Notice of Privacy Practices
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

Carolina Children’s Home Website Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the Carolina Children’s Home (CCH) Website and reviewing our privacy policy. Our privacy policy is clear: We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us.

If You Send Us Personal Information

If you choose to provide us with personal information by sending an e-mail to CCH, we use that information to respond to your message and to help us provide you with information that you request. CCH does not accept resumes that are emailed; however, if you submit your resume through our website, we use your personal identification information only in considering your application for employment. We do not collect personal information for any other purposes. The information you provide is not given to any private organizations or private persons. CCH does not collect or use information for commercial marketing.

Links to Other Sites

Our website has links to other websites. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. CCH does not endorse the content, operators, products, or services of those sites. Your use of any linked website is solely at your own risk.

Updates to Privacy Policy

Please be aware that CCH reserves the right to change our Website Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do, we will update the policy statement at our website, so be sure to check back here frequently.

For further information about CCH’s Website Privacy Policy, please contact Carolina Children's Home's Development Office Staff at
803-782-1421.

This notice describes how information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully. This document may be updated without notice. A copy of this statement is always available upon request.

All information revealed by you in a counseling or therapy session and most information placed in your clinical file is considered “protected health information” by HIPAA. As such, your protected health information cannot be distributed to anyone else, beside your guardian, without you (or your guardian’s) express informed and voluntary written consent or authorization. The exceptions to this are defined immediately below:

Use or disclosure of the following protected health information does not require your (or your guardian’s) consent or authorization:

1. Uses and disclosures required by law—like files subpoenaed by a Judge
2. Uses and disclosures about victims of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence—like duties to warn
3. Uses and disclosures for health and oversight activities—like correcting records or correcting records already disclosed
4. Uses and disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings—like a case where you are claiming malpractice
5. Uses and disclosures for law enforcement purposes—like when you claim mental health issues as a defense in a civil or criminal case
6. Uses and disclosures for research purposes—like using client information in research; always maintaining confidentiality
7. Uses and disclosures to avert a serious threat to health or safety—like calling Probate Court for a commitment hearing

Your Rights as a Client under HIPAA

• As a client, you have the right to see your clinical file.
• As a client, you have the right to receive a copy of your clinical file.
• As a client, you have the right to request amendments to your clinical file.
• As a client, you have the right to receive a history of all disclosures of protected health information.
• As a client, you have the right to restrict the use and disclosure of your protected health information for the purposes of treatment, payment and operations. If you choose to release any protected health information, you will be required to sign a release of information form detailing exactly to whom and what information you wish to disclose. Carolina Children's Home is not required to agree to the restriction.
• As a client, you have the right to register a complaint with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Carolina Children's Home if you feel your rights, herein explained, have been violated.

Effective Date: April 14, 2003
Contact Person: Carolina Children's Home’s Privacy Officer-(803) 787-2306