Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 19, 2026

Little Break takes care of your family's information the way we take care of your kids: carefully, and only with people we trust. This policy explains what we collect, why, who sees it and the choices you have.

Little Break is a Calgary, Alberta business. We follow Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). This policy covers our website, booking and application forms, our sitter app, and any time you email, call or text us. It applies to families, sitters and applicants, employers and event clients, and anyone who visits our website.

Information we collect

We only collect what we need to match families with sitters, keep children safe and run the service.

We don't ask for Social Insurance Numbers, banking details or ID on our application form. We only collect those from sitters we decide to engage, when we need them.

How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Match families with qualified sitters and send each sitter what they need for a sit
• Take bookings, charge cards, issue receipts, process refunds and pay sitters
• Review sitter applications, check references and certifications, and confirm Police Information Checks
• Train sitters and keep their certifications current
• Keep children safe, respond to incidents and meet our legal duties
• Run two-way ratings so standards stay high for families and sitters
• Answer questions and provide support
• Send booking confirmations, reminders and service messages
• Send news and offers, only if you've agreed (see Your consent and choices)
• Improve our service, prevent fraud and meet accounting, tax and insurance requirements

We never sell your personal information, and we never use children's information for advertising.

Children's information, photos and Little Reports

We collect information about children only from their parent or guardian, and only what a sitter needs to care for them safely.

• Who sees it: the sitter booked for your family, and our team when needed. A sitter sees your child's details before and during a sit, not after.
• Photos: sitters take photos of your children only when you add a Little Report or ask for them. Photos are sent to you through our app or messaging, and sitters must delete them from their own device after the sit.
• No other use: we never post photos of children on our website, social media or marketing without a parent's separate written consent, and you can withdraw that consent at any time.
• Sitters' privacy rules: sitters agree to keep everything they see and hear in your home confidential, during and after their time with Little Break.

Health information and the Nurse Check-in

Allergies, medical notes and Sick Day symptom checklists are shared only with your sitter and the members of our team who need them for your booking.

Little Break is not a healthcare provider. When you book a Nurse Check-in, the video consult is provided by a licensed virtual care provider. The nurse or nurse practitioner's notes, advice and any prescriptions are part of their health record, held by our partner under Alberta's Health Information Act. We share only what's needed to set up the call: your name, contact details, your child's first name and age, and the time of the consult. We don't receive or keep the clinician's notes.

Who we share information with

We share personal information only when it's needed to run Little Break, and only as much as is needed.

• Your sitter. The sitter booked for your sit sees your first name, address, booking details, and the notes and children's information you add for that booking.
• Families. Families see a sitter's first name, photo, tier, training, reviews and verification badges. Never a sitter's address, banking details or check results.
• Service providers who work for us. Stripe (payments), Connecteam (sitter applications, scheduling and payouts), Squarespace (our website), Tally (online forms), Google Workspace (email) and QuickBooks (accounting). They may use your information only to provide their service to us.
• Screening. References you name, and the police service that completes a sitter's Police Information Check with vulnerable sector search, only with the sitter's consent.
• Our virtual care partner. For Nurse Check-in bookings, as described above.
• Professional advisers. Our insurer, lawyer and accountant, where needed for a claim, legal advice or our books.
• When the law requires it. We'll share information when required by law, including:
  • reporting a concern that a child may be in need of intervention, as every adult in Alberta must under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act;
  • calling 911 or sharing information in an emergency that threatens someone's life, health or safety;
  • responding to a court order, warrant or other legal process.
• If the business changes hands. If Little Break is sold or merged, personal information may transfer to the new owner, who must protect it under this policy.

Storing information outside Canada

Some of our service providers store or process information outside Canada, mainly in the United States. While it's there, it may be subject to the laws of that country, and authorities there may be able to access it.

If you'd like to know more about how our service providers outside Canada handle personal information, contact our Privacy Officer (details below).

AI tools. We may use AI tools to help with tasks like drafting messages or organizing schedules. We only use tools that don't train on our data, we don't put children's health information into them, and a person on our team reviews anything they produce before it's used.

Your consent and choices

By booking, applying, joining our waitlist or sending us information, you consent to us using it as this policy describes. Where information is especially sensitive, such as photos of your children or a sitter's background check, we ask for consent separately.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us. If you do, we may not be able to keep providing some services. For example, we can't book a sitter without your address.

Emails and texts. We'll only send you marketing emails (like news, offers and event invites) if you've agreed to receive them. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also just reply and ask us to stop. We'll still send messages you need about your bookings, payments or account.

How long we keep it, and how we protect it

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the reasons in this policy, or as long as the law requires.

• Booking and payment records: about 6 years, for tax and accounting.
• Little Reports and booking notes: while your account is active, plus 2 years.
• Photos sent during a sit: sitters delete them from their own phones after the sit.
• Sitter files: while the sitter works with us, plus 3 years, in case of a question or claim.
• Applications we don't move forward with: deleted after 12 months.
• Waitlist sign-ups: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them.

When we no longer need information, we delete it or make it anonymous.

Security. We use reasonable safeguards to protect your information, including encrypted connections, password-protected accounts with two-step sign-in where available, and access limited to the people who need it. Everyone who works with us, including sitters, agrees to keep family information confidential.

If a privacy breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we'll notify the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta and the people affected, as Alberta law requires.

Seeing, correcting or deleting your information

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Send your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. We'll respond within 45 days, and let you know if we need more time or can't share something (for example, because it includes someone else's information).

Concerns or complaints. If you have a concern about how we've handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to fix it. If you're not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta at oipc.ab.ca.

Cookies and website analytics

Our website runs on Squarespace, which uses cookies to keep the site working and to give us anonymous statistics, like which pages are visited most. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site will still work, though some features may not.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Little Break grows. When we do, we'll change the date at the top, and for important changes we'll let families and sitters know by email.

Contact us