Confidentiality

Information voluntarily provided to Stepping Stones through the interactive portions of this website is kept confidential. Photographs are used with permission.

Information Automatically Gathered

When you visit this site we may gather technical information to assist us in maintaining the site, such as what referral site brought you to Stepping Stones and what browser type you are using. No personal information is collected.

Security

Interactive forms are utilized in some areas of the site. This information is sent in e-mail form to a Stepping Stones employee responsible for responding to the e-mail. No personal information is entered into any database until such person agrees to an ongoing relationship with Stepping Stones. 
The information collected includes name, address, telephone, e-mail and other basic information. We do not collect confidential information such as social security numbers or credit card numbers.

Collection of Secure Information

Stepping Stones uses PayPal’s Donation service for online donations. PayPal is a well-trusted, widely-used e-commerce service which encrypts your information using Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128-bits (the highest level commercially available). For more information about PayPal, go to: www.paypal.com.
When you click on a PayPal button, you will be transferred to PayPal where you will be asked to follow the instructions. The method we use does not require membership in PayPal.

Photo policy

Pictures of placed families/children are used only if a release authorizing such use by Stepping Stones has been received. Inclusion of photos and/or information about specific waiting children is in compliance with state and/or federal laws and laws of the child’s country of origin. Photos on this site may not be used by any other individual, agency, organization, or entity.

SPAM

Stepping Stones does not tolerate unsolicited e-mail. If you receive an e-mail that appears to come from Stepping Stones and you are not a client, have not requested information, or are not already corresponding with a Stepping Stones staff member, please use caution. “Phishing” scams often circulate on the Internet and may use maps-worldwide.org addresses. If you have any concerns about such e-mail, contact us.

Links to Third-Party Sites

Stepping Stones provides links to third-party web sites as a convenience to visitors and not as an endorsement of other sites’ contents. Third-party web sites are maintained by others. Although we make a reasonable effort to ensure that third-party sites contain information relevant to Stepping Stones mission and have a positive reputation on the internet, MAPS is not responsible for the content of linked third-party sites and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third-party sites. If you decide to access linked third-party web sites, you do so at your own risk. 
If you wish to exchange links with Stepping Stones, have questions or comments about the website content, or would like to contribute content, please email.
The site is monitored daily and updated weekly.