Privacy Policy

Graceful Birth® Doula Services Inc. collects only what we need to support your family, protects it carefully, and does not share it without your consent except as described below.

Who is responsible

Grace Jose, owner of Graceful Birth®, is our Privacy Officer and is accountable for how we handle your personal information. We follow Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

What we collect and why

We collect personal information only for the purposes below, and only what we need for each.

  • Responding to inquiries and booking: name, email, phone number, due date, location, the service you are interested in, and anything you choose to tell us about your pregnancy or family.
  • Matching you with a doula and coordinating care: scheduling details, preferences, and logistics for your visits or shifts.
  • Non-clinical newborn support: feeding times and volumes, sleep, diaper outputs, and comfort observations, so care stays consistent between shifts.
  • Health and safety screening: whether anyone in the household has symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory symptoms, or a new rash.
  • Safety and incident records: factual notes about any safety concern or incident during care.
  • Invoicing and insurance: invoices, receipts, and service descriptions, including documents your insurer may request.

Sharing illness symptoms is required for in-person care. It lets us protect newborns and our doulas, and we may adjust, pause, or reschedule a visit based on what you tell us.

Payments and insurance. We invoice and collect payment through our accounting software. You can pay by email transfer, or by credit card processed by a third-party payment service. If you ask us to send documents to your insurer or benefits provider, we share only what you request.

Who sees your information and how we protect it

Care documentation is shared only with Graceful Birth leadership. We do not disclose your personal information to third parties without your express written consent, except to the service providers below who help us run our business, or where the law requires it.

We use secure third-party tools to run our business:

  • A client-records platform: secure management of client records.
  • Encrypted business email: professional correspondence.
  • A messaging app: real-time coordination, illness screening, and care summaries during your contract.
  • Accounting and payment software: invoicing and payments, including card payments processed by a third-party payment service.
  • Online booking and registration forms: to schedule consultations and collect service details.
  • An AI writing assistant: used by our owner to help draft and organize emails and schedules. Every message is reviewed by our administrative team before it is sent, and nothing is sent automatically. We do not enter care notes, health screening details, or payment information into it.

Some of these providers may store data on servers outside of Canada, where it is subject to each provider’s own privacy policy.

Our website and emails

When you send an inquiry through the contact form on our website, it goes into our secure client-records platform, which notifies Grace by email. We use it only to respond to you and to arrange your services.

We do not send newsletters or marketing emails. We email you only about your inquiry or the services you have booked.

How long we keep it

We keep client records only as long as needed for your care and for legal requirements, and we securely destroy them seven (7) years after service ends. Our client records are kept in our secure client-records platform and business email. Our AI writing assistant and similar tools are not used to store records, and we limit what we share with them to what a task needs.

Photos, social media and testimonials

Our doulas are strictly forbidden from photographing newborns, clients, or homes. We never post client stories or identities on social media. We share a testimonial or reference only with your explicit written permission.

Your choices and rights

By engaging our services, you consent to us collecting and using your information as described here.

You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to correct it. Care summaries and overnight observations are available to you in the shared WhatsApp group created for the length of your contract. For anything else, contact Grace using the details above.

You may withdraw your consent to our use of your information at any time, subject to legal and contractual limits. Because some information, such as illness screening, is required for in-person care, withdrawing it may limit the services we can provide.

If you have a privacy concern or think your information may have been mishandled, please call or email Grace directly. We will investigate and send you a formal response within 30 days. You may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Updates to this policy

Effective date: Nov. 9, 2026. This policy applies in Ontario, Canada, and reflects current provincial public health guidance and legal requirements. When we update it, we will post the new version here, and continuing to use Graceful Birth® Doula Services Inc. after an update means you accept the revised policy.