Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

• Service: HomeForPaws (“the Platform”)
• Operator contact: Sam Fourie, Pretoria
• Email: sam@homeforpaws.co.za

2. Introduction

HomeForPaws (“we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal data.

3. Our role and the shelters’ role

• For adoption applications, adoption agreements, cruelty/inspectorate cases, evidence, and shelter records uploaded or captured on the Platform (“Shelter Records”), the relevant shelter is the Responsible Party and we act as the Operator, processing Shelter Records on the shelter’s instructions.
• For Platform administration, billing, account management, security, service improvement, and our own analytics, we act as the Responsible Party.

4. Personal information we process

5. Special personal information

Some Shelter Records (especially cruelty/inspectorate cases) may include sensitive information. We process this information only to provide the Platform to shelters and to comply with legal obligations, and we apply stricter access controls and audit logging where feasible.

6. How we use information

We use collected data to:

• Provide and improve the Platform
• Display relevant pets and shelters
• Enable communication between users and shelters
• Send account-related notifications
• Ensure security and prevent abuse

7. Legal basis for processing

We process personal information based on:

• User consent
• Performance of a service
• Legitimate interests (Platform operation and safety)
• Legal obligations

8. Cookies & analytics

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Maintain sessions
• Improve performance
• Understand usage patterns

You may disable cookies in your browser, but some features may not work.

9. Third-party services

We may use trusted third-party services for:

• Hosting
• Analytics
• Email delivery
• Image storage

These providers are only given access to data necessary to perform their services and are required to protect it.

Our PAIA Manual is available on our website here.

10. Where your information is processed

• Database records (MongoDB): hosted in South Africa (Cape Town) on Amazon Web Services.
• Application hosting & serverless execution: Vercel (configured for Cape Town/South Africa execution, where available).
• Authentication: Firebase Authentication processes authentication data in the United States.
• Files (contracts, PDFs, images, videos, evidence): stored in Cloudflare R2, which may store/process data in Western Europe.

11. Cross-border transfers

Some information is processed outside South Africa, including authentication data processed in the United States (Firebase Authentication) and file content stored in Western Europe (Cloudflare R2). Where information is processed outside South Africa, we implement appropriate safeguards, including contractual protections with our service providers and security measures designed to protect personal information.

12. Security

We use access control, encryption in transit, audit logs for admin actions, least privilege access, and a breach response process to help protect personal information.

13. Retention

• Adoption agreements and adoption records: retained for five (5) years from the date the adoption agreement is signed.
• Cruelty/inspectorate case records and related evidence/documents: retained for five (5) years from the case closure date (or the relevant legal closure/recordkeeping trigger used by the shelter).
• Platform account and operational data (non-legal): retained while the account is active and deleted upon account deletion, subject to limited retention in logs and backups.
• Backups: backups may be retained for up to 30 days.
• Logs: technical logs (which may include IP addresses) are retained for a limited period necessary for security and operations.

14. Account deletion

When a user deletes their account:

• We delete or anonymise non-legal Platform data associated with the account.
• We delete the user’s authentication account where applicable.
• We retain adoption agreements and related adoption records, cruelty/inspectorate case records, and other shelter legal records for the retention periods described above, where required for recordkeeping and legal purposes by the shelter.

15. Your rights and how to exercise them

• For Shelter Records (adoption and cruelty/inspectorate records): requests for access, correction, or deletion should be directed to the relevant shelter as the Responsible Party. If you contact us, we will route your request to the relevant shelter where appropriate.
• For Platform operational data (billing, account administration): you may contact us at sam@homeforpaws.co.za.

16. Children’s privacy

HomeForPaws is not intended for children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available on the Platform.

18. Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests: sam@homeforpaws.co.za