Privacy Policy

Effective October 13, 2026

This policy explains what ParentNextStep, a service of Northwoods Ventures LLC, collects when you use our website and the choices you have. The short version: we don't ask for your name or contact details, and your answers to the care matcher never leave your browser.

1. What we collect, and what we don't

No names, contact details or health information. The site has no accounts and no forms that send us anything. The care matcher runs in your browser: who you're looking for help for, a first name if you give one, and your answers about help at home, falls, memory and paying for care are used on the page to show your results, and aren't saved or sent to us.
Lists you send. “Email this list” and “Text this list” open your own email or messages app with the list filled in, and “Copy the list” uses your device's clipboard. We never see the message or who you send it to.
Links to other companies. When you tap “Check price” or “Talk to a free care advisor,” the link passes through our site, which records the company, the plan or kind of care, the time, the page you came from and the tracking code described in section 3, then sends you on. Nothing you answered goes with you. If you ask Caring.com for an advisor's call or buy from a medical alert company, you give your details to them on their own website, under their privacy policy.
Technical data. Like any website, our hosting provider receives your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you request and the page that referred you, and keeps them in short-lived server logs used to run and secure the site.
Usage data. Google Analytics and Vercel Web Analytics record how the site is used: pages viewed, how you arrived, device and browser type, and approximate location. Our analytics events record steps, like which question was answered or which kind of help was chosen, and which company's link was followed. They never include your answers about falls, memory, daily care or Medicaid, or a name.

2. How we use it

To show the site and your matches.
To know which of our pages and ads lead to a sale or a call request, so the companies we work with can pay us.
To keep the site secure, prevent abuse, diagnose problems and understand overall traffic.
To comply with law.

3. Cookies and tracking

Ad click cookie. If you arrive from an ad, we save the ad's click identifiers (such as Google's gclid) and campaign tags from the link in a first-party cookie named pns_click for 90 days, with a random code. When you follow a link to a medical alert company or Caring.com, we add a tracking code made from it, so a sale or call request can be matched to the ad or page that led to it. It holds nothing about you or your answers.

Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand how people find and use the site. It uses first-party cookies and collects your IP address, device and browser type, the pages you visit, how you arrived, and your approximate location. We turn off Google signals and ad personalization for our Analytics data. To opt out, install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Vercel Web Analytics. We also count page views with Vercel Web Analytics, from our hosting provider. It doesn't use cookies and doesn't store your IP address; it gives us only totals. See Vercel's Web Analytics privacy page.

No advertising pixels. We don't put Facebook, Google Ads or other advertising trackers on our pages.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; every page still works.

Service providers that run the site for us: Vercel (hosting and website analytics) and Google (Analytics, and Google Sheets for our click log). They may process data only to provide their service to us.
Companies we link to receive the tracking code in section 3 when you follow our link.
Legal and safety. When required by law or legal process, or to protect the rights, property or safety of anyone.
Business transfers. If Northwoods Ventures LLC is acquired or merges, information may transfer to the successor under this policy.

We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it for targeted advertising.

5. Medicare data

Our nursing home and home health pages show public information Medicare publishes about facilities, not about residents or patients.

6. How long we keep it

Server logs are kept for a short period, generally no more than 30 days. The click log is kept for up to two years, for matching against the reports of the companies we link to.

7. Your choices and rights

You can use every page without giving us any personal information. To ask what we hold about you, or to have it deleted, email support@parentnextstep.com and we will respond within 45 days. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. Requests about a call you asked Caring.com for, or a purchase from a medical alert company, go to that company.

8. Security

Pages are served over HTTPS. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee against every breach.

9. Children

ParentNextStep is for adults. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

10. Changes

We may update this policy. The effective date appears at the top. See also our Terms of Use.

11. Contact

Northwoods Ventures LLC, operator of ParentNextStep. Email support@parentnextstep.com.