The privacy of children and teenagers with bipolar disorder and their families is of primary importance to the The Balanced Mind Foundation (The Balanced Mind Foundation).  Some parents prefer total anonymity. Others are comfortable with varying degrees of openness about the fact that their child or they themselves have bipolar 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.

The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 site located at http://www.thebalancedmind.org/.

In order to fully understand your rights we encourage you to read this Privacy Policy as well as our Terms of Use. The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 The Balanced Mind Foundation by sending an e-mail to info@thebalancedmind.org. Please reference this Privacy Policy in your subject line.

Visitors
The Balanced Mind Foundation 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
The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 if you request we not do so. The return address on our labels says "The Balanced Mind Foundation" and shows our logo.

Photos
Many of the children pictured on this web site are children with bipolar disorder. The Balanced Mind Foundation welcomes submission of photographs by parents and legal guardians for use on this Web site. Photos will be used at the sole discretion of The Balanced Mind Foundation. See our submission guidelines.

Names
The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 The Balanced Mind Foundation, will not unduly compromise the privacy of a child or teen.

Before publishing an article or news item about a child with bipolar disorder that identifies a child by name, in addition to obtaining permission from the original publisher, if applicable, The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 The Balanced Mind Foundation. 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. The Balanced Mind Foundation will automatically send the friend a one-time e-mail inviting them to visit the Site. The Balanced Mind Foundation 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 The Balanced Mind Foundation has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.

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

The Balanced Mind Foundation
566 W. Lake St., Ste. 430
Chicago, Illinois   60661  USA
info@thebalancedmind.org