Privacy Policy

Who we are

EarlyBegin (earlybegin.com) is a free guide that helps parents of children ages 0–3 understand developmental milestones and start their state's free early intervention (Part C) program. It is independently run and is not a government agency, medical provider, or insurance service. Questions about this policy: [email protected].

What we collect

If you just browse (no account)

• Server logs. Like nearly every website, our server briefly records IP addresses, browser type, and pages requested, for security and troubleshooting. Logs age out automatically.
• Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand which pages help people (page views, approximate location by region, device type). This uses cookies; see "Cookies" below.
• Cloudflare. Our traffic passes through Cloudflare, which provides security and performance for the site, and processes visitor IP addresses to do so.
• The public milestone checker works without an account. Your answers aren't saved to any profile unless you create one.

If you create an account

• About you: your name, email address, an optional phone number, and your password (stored only as a secure hash — we cannot see it).
• About your child — provided by you: your child's first name, date of birth, gender, the developmental concerns you select, and milestone progress you record. We use this solely to personalize your next steps (for example, showing age-appropriate milestones and your state's contact information). It is never used for marketing or shared with third parties.
• Your location choice: the state (and, where available, county) you select, so we can show the right early intervention program.
• Support messages: if you open a support ticket, we keep the message and any attachments you upload so we can help you.

Email

• We send account email (like verification) and, only if you've consented, helpful guidance emails. Every non-essential email has an unsubscribe link that works with one click.
• Emails we send may include standard open and click tracking so we know whether they're useful.

What we never do

• No selling, renting, or trading of personal information — yours or your child's. Ever.
• No advertising networks, ad tracking, or data brokers on this site.
• No marketing use of the information you share about your child.

Who helps us run the service

A small number of service providers process data on our behalf, only as needed to operate the site:

• DigitalOcean — hosts our servers (United States).
• Cloudflare — security, performance, and email delivery.
• Google Analytics — aggregate usage statistics.

We share information beyond this only if the law requires it.

Cookies

We use a session cookie (to keep you logged in), a security (CSRF) cookie, and Google Analytics cookies (such as _ga) for usage statistics. You can block or delete cookies in your browser; the public parts of the site will still work.

How long we keep things

• Account and child information: for as long as your account exists.
• Encrypted-in-transit nightly backups: kept 14 days on our server and up to 30 days on a secondary server, then deleted automatically.
• If you ask us to delete your account, we remove your data from the live database promptly, and it ages out of backups within about 30 days.

Your rights and choices

• See or fix your data: your profile page lets you update your information, or email us for a copy of what we hold.
• Delete everything: email [email protected] from your account address and we'll delete your account and all associated data within 30 days.
• Stop emails: use the unsubscribe link in any message, or ask us.

Children's privacy

EarlyBegin is a service for parents and caregivers, not for children. We don't knowingly collect information directly from anyone under 13. Information about your child is provided by you, the parent or guardian, is used only to provide the service, and is deleted whenever you ask.

Security

All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS, passwords are stored as secure hashes, and access to production data is limited to the operator of the service. No internet service can promise perfect security, but we deliberately collect little and guard what we hold.

Changes

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we'll update the date at the top and note the change here. We will never quietly weaken the "what we never do" section.

Contact

[email protected]