Privacy Policy
COBYS Family Services Website/Digital Privacy Policy
Effective Date: August 24, 2026
COBYS Family Services places a high priority on protecting your privacy. This privacy policy was created in order to demonstrate the firm commitment of COBYS to the privacy of our website users. This policy explains what types of information is collected by the COBYS Family Services website, www.cobys.org, and how this information is used.
Information You Provide Directly
Only the contact forms on this site and those created through COBYS social media accounts, as well as program registration or service access, collect personally identifiable information. This information is used for the sole purpose of responding to comments, inquiries, and registrations submitted via a particular form.
Site visitors are also invited to sign up for newsletters and/or emails from COBYS Family Services. That sign-up takes place on the primary website for COBYS Family Services at www.cobys.org and through promotion of such opportunity on COBYS social media accounts. Individuals that sign up to receive these e-communications voluntarily provide us with contact information (such as name and e-mail address). We may use this information for specific, limited purposes. You may always “opt out,” either now or at any time in the future, if you do not wish to receive our messages.
Depending on how you interact with our website and programs, the personal information you provide directly to us may include: your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number; information submitted through general contact, comment, or inquiry forms; information submitted through program registration, referral, or intake forms related to foster care, adoption, counseling, or family life education services; donation and payment information; information submitted through an online job application; and contact information provided when you sign up for our newsletter or e-communications.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit www.cobys.org, we and our service providers automatically collect certain technical information, including your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, the dates and times of your visit, cookie and similar device identifiers, and general, approximate location inferred from your IP address (such as city or region). We use this information to help diagnose problems with our server, administer www.cobys.org, secure our site, and compile statistics on website traffic and usage, as described further below.
Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising Technologies
www.cobys.org uses “cookies” and similar tracking technologies to operate the site, remember your preferences, and understand how visitors use our site. A cookie is a small data file placed on your device when you visit our website. You can instruct your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when a cookie is being placed; if you disable cookies, some parts of the site may not function properly.
The cookies and similar technologies used on www.cobys.org generally fall into a few categories: “necessary” cookies that allow the site to function; “functional” cookies that remember your preferences; “analytics” cookies (such as Google Analytics) that help us understand site usage; and “advertising” cookies (such as the Meta Pixel and LinkedIn Insight Tag) that support our marketing efforts. We may also use tools such as Google Tag Manager to manage these tracking tags, along with embedded maps, video, or reCAPTCHA to support specific site features; these tools may collect technical information as described in their providers’ own privacy policies. Where required by law, we will provide a cookie consent or preference option so you can manage non-essential cookies.
Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, to help us understand how visitors interact with www.cobys.org, such as which pages are viewed, how long visitors stay, and how they arrived at our site. This information is collected in aggregate form and is not used by us to identify you personally. To learn more about how Google collects and uses this data, please review Google’s “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services” page at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Meta Pixel. We use the Meta Pixel (formerly the Facebook Pixel), a tool provided by Meta Platforms, Inc., on www.cobys.org. The Meta Pixel collects information about the pages you view and the actions you take on our site, which helps us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and better understand our visitors. Meta’s use of this information is governed by its privacy policy, available at facebook.com/privacy/policy. You can manage how Meta uses this information for advertising through your ad preferences at facebook.com/adpreferences/ad_settings.
LinkedIn Insight Tag. We use the LinkedIn Insight Tag, a tool provided by LinkedIn Corporation, to gather insights about visitors to www.cobys.org and to measure the performance of our LinkedIn advertising. The Insight Tag may collect information such as IP address, browser and device characteristics, page views, and referring URLs. LinkedIn’s use of this information is governed by its privacy policy, available at linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. You can opt out of LinkedIn’s use of this data for advertising through your LinkedIn account settings or at linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out.
These and other third-party tools may place cookies or use similar technologies on your device to collect information about your activity on www.cobys.org and, in some cases, across other websites over time. We do not control these third parties’ use of such technologies or the information they collect, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies, linked above, for more information. We also use the Meta and LinkedIn tools described above for targeted advertising and remarketing, including showing you ads based on your visit to our site and measuring ad performance; you can manage or opt out of this through the platform-specific and industry opt-out tools described in this policy.
Do Not Track
Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) signal or a similar mechanism, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC), that lets you indicate you do not want certain information about your browsing activity collected over time and across websites. Because there is not yet an accepted industry standard for responding to these signals, www.cobys.org does not currently respond to DNT or GPC signals.
How We Use Your Information
We use your personal information to answer your inquiries, register you for services/classes, or to send you e-communications that you select to opt into. You may choose to opt out at any time, which will cease newsletters/e-mail from us. We may also use your information to track visitors of our website. This lets us see which of our features are the most popular so we can better serve our users’ needs. It also lets us provide aggregate data about our traffic (not identifying you personally, but showing how many visitors used which features, for example) to outside parties. As described above, we also share information collected through cookies and similar technologies with third-party analytics and advertising providers, including Google, Meta, and LinkedIn, to help us measure and improve our website and marketing efforts. We also use personal information to: operate, secure, and maintain our website; process program registrations, referrals, and service intake; process donations and payments; evaluate job applications; comply with legal, licensing, and professional obligations applicable to our foster care, adoption, and counseling services; and protect the safety, rights, and property of COBYS Family Services, our clients, and others.
Service Providers and Other Parties We Share Information With
We share personal information with service providers and other parties who help us operate our website and deliver our programs, including our website hosting provider, analytics platforms (such as Google), advertising platforms (such as Meta and LinkedIn), our email and newsletter provider, case management and donor/CRM systems, online form and donation/payment processing tools, our job application platform, IT support providers, and legal or professional advisors. Where applicable to our foster care and adoption services, information may also be shared with courts, state licensing agencies, and other parties as required by law or professional and ethical standards. These parties are only provided the information needed to perform their functions and are expected to protect it accordingly. We do not sell your personal information. We may also access, preserve, or disclose personal information when required by law or legal process, or when necessary to protect the safety, rights, or property of COBYS Family Services, our clients, our staff, or others, or to detect and prevent fraud or security issues.
Email Privacy
COBYS Family Services does not provide, sell, or rent e-mail addresses to anyone outside the organization.
Adoption, Foster Care, and Service Intake Information
Information submitted through a program referral, intake, or application form related to foster care, adoption, or counseling services is used to assess eligibility, process your request, and provide the requested services. Because of the nature of this work, this information may be shared with courts, state licensing or regulatory agencies, and other parties as required by law or applicable professional and ethical standards, and is handled with the confidentiality protections appropriate to family services casework.
A Note on Sensitive Information
Please do not submit confidential medical, financial, child-welfare, case-related, or other highly sensitive information through our general website contact forms. If you need to share this type of information, please contact us directly by phone or through the secure, program-specific channel provided to you.
In Case of Emergency
Our website and contact forms are not monitored continuously and are not intended for emergencies. If you or someone else is in immediate danger or experiencing a crisis, please call 911 or contact the appropriate emergency or crisis service directly rather than submitting a form on our website.
Donations and Payments
If you make a donation or payment through www.cobys.org, your payment is processed by a third-party payment processor. We do not store your full credit card or bank account details on our own systems; the payment processor handles that information subject to its own privacy and security practices. We retain records of your donation or payment (such as the amount and date) for accounting, tax, and donor-management purposes.
Job Applicants
If you apply for a position with COBYS Family Services through our website, the information you submit (such as your resume, contact information, and application materials) is used to evaluate your candidacy and may be shared with COBYS staff involved in the hiring process. We retain applicant information for as long as needed to fill the position and to comply with recordkeeping obligations.
Children’s Privacy
www.cobys.org is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through our website without appropriate parental or guardian consent. Where COBYS Family Services collects information about a minor in connection with a program, service, or registration, we do so only with the involvement and consent of the minor’s parent or legal guardian, and that information is used solely to provide the requested program or service. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without appropriate consent, please contact us using the information below so we can take appropriate action.
Your Privacy Choices
In addition to your browser’s cookie settings and the opt-out tools described above, you can manage advertising cookies placed on your device through industry opt-out tools such as the Digital Advertising Alliance’s WebChoices tool at optout.aboutads.info and the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page at optout.networkadvertising.org. Opting out through these tools will not stop advertising altogether, but it will stop ads from certain participating companies from being tailored to your interests.
You may also request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we hold about you by contacting us using the information below. We will respond to your request as required by applicable law; please note that in some circumstances, such as ongoing casework or records we are required to retain by law or professional standards, we may not be able to fulfill a deletion request.
Data Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we collect from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. No method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Data Retention
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, including providing services, complying with legal, regulatory, contractual, licensing, or accounting requirements, and resolving disputes. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information and the purpose for which it was collected; for example, records related to foster care and adoption casework may be retained for longer periods as required by applicable law and professional standards.
External Links
www.cobys.org includes links to external websites. These links do not fall under the www.cobys.org domain, and COBYS Family Services is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of external websites. Your use of any linked website is solely at your own risk. This also applies to our social media accounts; any information you provide through comments, messages, or lead forms on those platforms is subject to that platform’s own privacy policy.
Modifications
We may amend this privacy policy from time to time; please review it periodically. We maintain the option to modify this privacy at any time by electronic notice posted on our website. Your continued use of our website after the date that such notices are posted will be deemed to be your agreement to the changed terms. When we make material changes to this policy, we will update the Effective Date at the top of this policy and, where appropriate, provide additional notice on our website. This policy was last updated August 24, 2026.
