What Is WARM's Privacy Policy Regarding Personal Information?

Updated

WARM (Washington Adoption Reunion Movement) states that it does not collect personal information through its website. According to the privacy statement on warmsearch.org, no information is obtained or retained by the website, and any personal information submitted in any form is never sold or shared with outside entities for marketing or promotional purposes. This applies to anyone using the site, including adoptees, birth family members, and adoptive families seeking information or search services.

What the Website Does Not Collect

The privacy statement is unusually direct on this point. WARM says:

  • Personal information is not collected through the website.
  • No information is obtained through or retained by the website.
  • WARM does not collect personal information from or through the website.

In practice, this means you can browse the site's public pages — information about search services, support groups, suggested books, and links — without the organization gathering your details through the site itself.

How the Application Form Actually Works

The one place where personal information does come into play is the application form, and the process is deliberately offline:

  1. Request the form by email or by phone call to the WARM office.
  2. Complete it yourself.
  3. Mail it back to WARM.

Because the form is requested and returned outside the website, none of the information you provide passes through or is stored by warmsearch.org. If you are weighing whether to start a search, this matters: your identifying details are handled through direct contact and mail rather than a web submission.

How Your Information Is Used

WARM states that any personal information submitted in any form is never sold or shared with outside entities for marketing or promotional purposes. The policy does not describe other uses, retention periods, or third-party service providers, so the supported takeaway is narrow but clear: no marketing sale or sharing, and no collection via the website.

Practical Implications for You

  • Browsing is low-risk. You can explore WARM's resources, blog, and support-group information without the site collecting your data.
  • Starting a search requires direct contact. Expect to email or call for the application, then use postal mail — not a web form.
  • Ask about specifics if you need them. The published statement covers website collection and marketing use. For questions about how mailed information is stored or handled during a search, contact the WARM office directly, since the site does not detail those internal practices.

WARM has operated since 1976 and works with the Confidential Intermediary system, with cooperation from Superior Courts in Washington and a number of other states. Its privacy approach — keeping the website out of the data chain entirely — fits that model of handling sensitive adoption records through established, non-public channels.