Privacy Policy, Notices, and Disclaimers

PRIVACY POLICY
The privacy of children and teenagers with mood disorders and their families is of primary importance to the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF).  Some parents, children, and teens prefer total anonymity. Others are comfortable with varying degrees of openness about the fact that their child or they themselves have a mood disorder. As children grow older, they form opinions about how open they wish to be. Their opinions change and may, at times, conflict with the wishes of their family members.

CABF has created this Privacy Policy to explain why we collect particular information and how we will protect your personal privacy within our Web site. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the Web sites located at http://www.bpkids.org/ and http://www.depressedteens.com/.

In order to fully understand your rights we encourage you to read this Privacy Policy as well as our Terms of Use. CABF reserves the right at any time and without notice to change this Privacy Policy simply by posting such changes on our Site. Any such change will be effective immediately upon posting.
Questions regarding this statement should be directed to CABF by sending an e-mail to cabf@bpkids.org.  Please reference this Privacy Policy in your subject line.

Visitors
CABF will not share your name or any personal information about you or your family without your express permission. As with any Web site on the Internet, we recommend caution in revealing personal information on-line.

Surface Mail
CABF uses the Internet to the greatest extent possible to provide current information and support, and to reduce our overhead costs for printing and mailing. We will not send printed materials to your home unless you expressly request them. The return address on our labels says "CABF" and shows our logo.

Photos
Many of the children pictured on this web site are children with mood disorders. CABF welcomes submission of photographs by parents and legal guardians for use on this Web site. Photos will be used at the sole discretion of CABF. See our submission guidelines.

Names
CABF reserves the right to edit any material submitted to this site to protect the identity of a particular young person or family member. Our policy is to identify children or family members only in selected cases where the custodial parents/legal guardians and the child or teen have expressly agreed and/or in contexts that, in the judgment of CABF, will not unduly compromise the privacy of a child or teen.

Before publishing an article or news item about a child with a mood disorder that identifies a child by name, in addition to obtaining permission from the original publisher, if applicable, CABF will seek permission from the custodial parents/legal guardians and the child, or will change names and other identifying information (and indicate where this has been done).

What Information We Collect and How We Use That Information
Our registration forms require users to give us contact information that may include name, email address, format preference (HTML vs. Text), address, interests, and similar information. We do not request or store sensitive information from our visitors, such as credit card or social security numbers.

Internet Protocol Address
We collect an IP address from all visitors to our Site. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our Site, analyze trends, track users' movement, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use in order for us to improve the site, and deliver customized, personalized content. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Use of "Cookies"
Our Site may use cookies to enhance your experience while using our Site. Cookies are pieces of information that some Web sites transfer to the computer that is browsing that Web site and are used for record-keeping purposes at many Web sites. Use of cookies makes Web-surfing easier by performing certain functions such as saving your passwords, your personal preferences regarding your use of the particular Web site and to make sure you don't see the same ad repeatedly. Many consider the use of cookies to be an industry standard.

Your browser is probably set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our Site will not function properly when you view them.

Security
All information provided to CABF is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a proven coding system that lets your browser automatically encrypt, or scramble, data before you send it to us. We also protect account information by placing it on a secure portion of our Site that is only accessible by certain qualified employees of CABF. Unfortunately, however, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information.

Tell-A-Friend
If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our Site, we ask them for the friend's name and e-mail address. CABF will automatically send the friend a one-time e-mail inviting them to visit the Site. CABF stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time e-mail.

Other  Web Sites
Our Site contains links to other Web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another Web site for which CABF has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.

Contacting CABF
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact:

Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
820 Davis St., Suite 520
Evanston, Illinois U.S.A. 60201-4448
cabf@bpkids.org

Copyright and Trademarks

The entire contents and design of the CABF World Wide Web site ("CABF Web site"), including all trademarks, logos, tradenames, documents, databases, graphic representations and information, are the property of CABF or used by CABF with permission, and are protected under U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws, whether or not a copyright, trademark, or other notice of proprietary rights appears on the screen displaying the information.

Notwithstanding the above, it is the policy of CABF to encourage wide dissemination of information about pediatric bipolar disorder. For content original to this site, CABF grants limited-use permission to reprint in print media only and for non-commercial, not-for-profit educational purposes only, if the following acknowledgment is included: "Reprinted from the Web site of the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (http://www.bpkids.org)."

Users may save and use information contained in the site for personal use. No other use of, including distributing, copying, modifying, publishing or re-transmitting, all or any portion of CABF's Web sites or any materials or content on the site may be made without the prior written permission of CABF or the appropriate copyright owner. For content written by others, such as user contributions, articles, or material published elsewhere, permission to reprint must be obtained directly from the publisher, author, or copyright holder.

Disclaimer

CABF makes no warranty, representation, or guarantee as to the accuracy or completeness of the information posted on CABF's Web sites or other CABF-information delivery method. CABF assumes no responsibility or liability in connection with the reference to, reliance on, or use or misuse of such information. The information, opinions and recommendations presented within CABF's Web sites or other CABF-information delivery method are for general information only and should not be construed as medical advice or diagnosis, nor as advice about treatment of any specific medical condition. CABF does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, medication, process, method of treatment, service, or organization presented or mentioned on CABF's Web sites or other CABF-information delivery method.

NO USER SHOULD START, STOP, OR CHANGE MEDICATION OR OTHER TREATMENT FOR HIMSELF OR HERSELF OR FOR HIS OR HER CHILD BASED ON WHAT THEY READ ON THIS WEB SITE OR ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERNET. INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE, AND DOES NOT REPLACE, THE CONSIDERED JUDGMENT OF A LICENSED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER WHO KNOWS THE PATIENT. CABF HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE CABF WEB SITE OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED ON THE SITE.

Links or pointers connecting CABF's Web sites with other Internet sites are provided as a courtesy only. CABF assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of content contained in any linked site or for the compliance with applicable laws of such linked sites. The content of any linked site does not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of CABF. CABF does not endorse, approve, or recommend the use of any specific treatment, medication, service or organization referenced in any Web site.

Lesson Plans

The lesson plans provided in http://www.depressedteens.com/ are intended to assist educators in planning class periods around viewing the Day for Night: Recognizing Teenage Depression© DVD. They have not gone through scientific scrutiny or evaluation by CABF.

Day for Night© is NOT about Suicide Prevention or Violence Prevention. This film is not intended for use in Suicide Prevention Programming or Violence Prevention Education.

Use of Material Contributed by Users

In order to reach a wider audience and advance our mission, CABF will occasionally use contributed writings in our public relations materials, or in printed books or other media for public distribution. When you submit a contribution to the CABF, you agree that CABF may use all or a part of your contribution in CABF's published materials. Identifying information will be deleted. By agreeing to this limited-use license to CABF, you reserve the right to use your contribution for publication in any other way you choose.

Monitoring

CABF does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings, and does not undertake editorial control of postings. Nevertheless, CABF retains the right to monitor posted information and remove messages or materials that it believes are not in the best interests of CABF.