Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

KoopCare provides a technology platform that helps parents and guardians connect with other parents for parent-to-parent childcare swaps. KoopCare helps users create profiles, browse nearby parents, build trusted circles, chat, arrange meet & greets, publish childcare requests, manage bookings, use points, leave reviews, and report concerns.

For the purposes of data protection law, KoopCare is the data controller for the personal data we collect and use through our website, app, and related services.

2. What personal data we collect

The personal data we collect depends on how you use KoopCare. This may include:

Account and contact details

• Name, email address, phone number, date of birth, login details, account status, referral code, and communication preferences.
• Information you provide when contacting KoopCare support.

Profile and family information

• Parent/guardian profile details, profile photo if provided, address or location information, availability, current points balance, and trust badge status.
• Child information added by a parent or guardian, such as child name, age, gender, likes, dislikes, meals, medicine, special notes, special needs information, emergency contact details, and other care-related notes.

Verification and trust/safety information

• ID document information, verification status, verification progress, and related safety/accountability checks.
• Garda Vetting-related information or trust signals where a user chooses to provide this information or where KoopCare records a vetting-related badge/status.
• Information connected to safety reports, disputes, account warnings, account restrictions, blocked accounts, or suspected misuse.

Community, request and booking information

• Tribe or parent-circle activity, requests to join or accept parents, selected parents/childminders, and nearby community visibility.
• Childcare request details, dates, times, location, gender preference if used, consent confirmations, booking status, cancellations, point history, and completed service records.
• Meet & greet requests, accept/decline/cancel actions, host/childminder labels, and booking-related communication.

Messages, reviews and reports

• Messages exchanged through KoopCare chat.
• Reviews, ratings, feedback, issue reports, complaint details, evidence submitted, and support investigation notes.

Payment and transaction information

• Point purchases, payment status, transaction references, billing information, receipts, and refund/dispute information.
• We do not intend to store full card numbers, CVV codes, or complete cardholder data on KoopCare systems. Card payments are handled by payment providers such as Stripe, where applicable.

Website, app and technical information

• Device information, IP address, browser type, app version, operating system, approximate location derived from device or IP, crash logs, performance logs, and security logs.
• Cookie, analytics, advertising, and attribution information where applicable.

3. Why we use personal data

We use personal data to provide, protect, improve, and support KoopCare. In particular, we may use your data to:

• Create and manage your KoopCare account.
• Help parents and guardians create family profiles and child profiles.
• Help users find nearby parents, request or join parent circles, and view relevant profiles, availability, reviews, and trust signals.
• Enable chat, meet & greet requests, childcare requests, bookings, booking details, reviews, and issue reporting.
• Operate the points system, point history, purchases, referral rewards, and fair exchange calculations.
• Support safety, accountability, ID verification, Garda Vetting-related trust signals, fraud prevention, dispute handling, and policy enforcement.
• Investigate reports, complaints, suspected misuse, harmful behaviour, impersonation, fraud, or safety concerns.
• Send service messages, account updates, security notices, reminders, and support responses.
• Improve the website, app, user experience, reliability, onboarding, support, and community quality.
• Measure marketing performance and understand whether our website or ads are helping parents discover KoopCare.
• Comply with legal, tax, accounting, child-safety, regulatory, or law-enforcement obligations where applicable.

4. Legal bases for processing personal data

Under GDPR, we need a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more of the following legal bases:

5. ID checks, verification and trust signals

Trust and safety are central to KoopCare. We may collect and process ID verification information, verification status, trust badge information, and related safety records to help reduce misuse, impersonation, fraud, and unsafe behaviour.

If KoopCare offers or records Garda Vetting-related trust signals, this may include information about whether a user has submitted vetting-related documents, whether a badge or trust signal is shown on a profile, and related support or verification records.

We use verification and trust/safety information to:

• Verify that users are real people.
• Display relevant verification or trust badges where appropriate.
• Support safer parent-to-parent decision-making.
• Prevent fraud, impersonation, fake accounts, and misuse.
• Investigate reports, disputes, or serious safety concerns.
• Enforce our Terms & Conditions and community rules.

6. Messages, reviews, reports and investigations

KoopCare includes chat, reviews, reports, and support tools. We do not actively monitor every message as a default practice. However, where there is a credible complaint, dispute, safety concern, suspected fraud, suspected policy breach, or legal issue, authorised KoopCare personnel may access and review relevant messages, booking records, reviews, reports, and account activity.

We use this information only where necessary to:

• Understand and resolve a report, complaint, or dispute.
• Protect children, parents, guardians, users, and the wider KoopCare community.
• Investigate suspected fraud, impersonation, harassment, misuse, or unsafe behaviour.
• Enforce our Terms & Conditions and community standards.
• Comply with legal obligations or respond to lawful requests.

Access to private messages during an investigation is limited to authorised people who need access for the relevant purpose. Where appropriate, users may be notified that an investigation has taken place, unless notification would compromise safety, the investigation, legal obligations, or another person’s rights.

7. Information shared with other parents and guardians

KoopCare is designed to help parents make informed decisions before arranging childcare swaps. This means certain information may be visible or shared with other users, depending on your settings, actions, and the stage of the interaction.

For example, other users may be able to see:

• Your profile details, name, photo if provided, approximate area, availability, reviews, and trust badges.
• Information needed to respond to a childcare request or meet & greet request.
• Relevant booking details once a booking is arranged.
• Childcare-related notes that you choose to share for a request or booking.
• Contact details, such as phone number or email address, where needed for a confirmed booking, emergency, or practical childcare arrangement.

8. Payments, points and card data

KoopCare may allow users to buy points, receive referral rewards, manage point balances, or complete transactions related to the platform.

Where card payments are used, payment processing may be handled by third-party payment providers such as Stripe. KoopCare does not intend to store full card numbers, CVV codes, or complete cardholder data on its own systems. Payment providers may process payment information, transaction data, billing details, fraud-prevention information, and related records in accordance with their own terms and privacy notices.

We may keep transaction records, point history, receipts, refund records, dispute records, and accounting records where needed for service operation, legal compliance, tax/accounting, fraud prevention, and customer support.

9. Cookies, analytics and advertising tools

Our website and app may use cookies, pixels, SDKs, analytics tools, advertising tools, and similar technologies. These tools may help us:

• Keep the website and app working properly.
• Understand how visitors use the website and app.
• Measure app installs, sign-ups, and marketing performance.
• Improve onboarding, content, user experience, and reliability.
• Show or measure advertising on platforms such as Meta, Google, or other advertising networks where applicable.

Some cookies or tracking tools are essential for the website or app to work. Others, such as analytics or advertising cookies/pixels, may require consent depending on how they are used and the laws that apply.

Where required, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies or tracking technologies. You can also control cookies through your browser settings and, where available, through our cookie banner or privacy settings.

10. Service providers and data sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We may share personal data only where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

We may share data with:

• Technology providers who help us host, maintain, secure, and improve KoopCare.
• App infrastructure, database, cloud hosting, analytics, crash-reporting, email, SMS, push notification, and customer support providers.
• Payment providers such as Stripe, where applicable.
• ID verification or trust/safety providers, where applicable.
• Professional advisers, insurers, accountants, legal advisers, or auditors where needed.
• Law enforcement, courts, regulators, child-safety bodies, or public authorities where required by law or where necessary to protect people or rights.
• Another organisation if KoopCare is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, investment, sale of assets, or similar business change, subject to appropriate safeguards.

Where service providers process personal data on our behalf, we require them to use the data only for agreed purposes and to protect it appropriately.

11. International data transfers

Some of our service providers may process or store personal data outside Ireland or outside the European Economic Area. Where this happens, we use appropriate safeguards where required, such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, contractual protections, or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

12. How long we keep personal data

We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.

Retention periods may depend on:

• Whether your account is active.
• Whether we need the data to provide the app or website.
• Whether the data is needed for bookings, points, payment records, reviews, reports, disputes, safety investigations, fraud prevention, legal claims, accounting, or regulatory reasons.
• Whether deletion would affect the safety, rights, or records of another user.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it, anonymise it, or securely retain it only where we have a lawful reason.

Some records, such as reviews, reports, booking history, account enforcement records, transaction records, or investigation records, may be retained after an account is closed where necessary for safety, accountability, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, legal compliance, or legitimate business records.

13. Your GDPR rights

Subject to certain legal limits, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Delete your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Restrict how we use your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
• Data portability, where applicable.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Complain to the Data Protection Commission in Ireland.

To exercise your rights, contact us at support@koopcare.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

You can also contact Ireland’s Data Protection Commission if you are unhappy with how your personal data is handled. Website: www.dataprotection.ie.

14. Children’s information

KoopCare is for parents and guardians, not for children to create their own accounts. Child information is provided by a parent or guardian so that other parents can understand the practical needs of a childcare swap.

Child information may include details such as name, age, gender, likes, dislikes, meals, medicine, special notes, special needs information, emergency contact details, and other care-related information added by a parent or guardian.

We use child information to help parents arrange safer and clearer childcare swaps, support bookings, share relevant care notes with selected parents where needed, respond to emergencies, investigate reports, and protect the KoopCare community.

15. Security

We use technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, encryption, secure transmission, monitoring, restricted staff access, and security reviews.

However, no website, app, database, or online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Users should protect their own account details, use strong passwords, and contact us immediately if they believe their account or personal data has been compromised.

16. Marketing communications

We may send service-related communications such as account notices, booking updates, reminders, safety messages, support responses, and important app updates.

We may also send marketing communications where permitted by law or where you have given consent. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe option where available or by contacting us at support@koopcare.com.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in KoopCare, our app features, legal requirements, service providers, cookies, analytics, advertising tools, or data protection practices.

When we make significant changes, we may notify users through the website, app, email, or other appropriate channels. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page shows when this policy was last changed.