At Avdhara, every decision we make is guided by one principle: the child's wellbeing comes first. This policy explains exactly how we protect children, what we collect and refuse to collect, how the adults in our community are expected to behave, and how to raise a concern.
1. Our Commitment
Avdhara exists to support parents in raising calm, capable and rooted children aged 2 to 16. The safety, dignity and wellbeing of every child is our highest responsibility, ahead of growth, ahead of convenience and ahead of any commercial interest. This policy applies to our website, our Parent Journal, our Parent Circles and gatherings, our Parent Stories, our emails, and any programme, session or event that Avdhara runs or hosts, online or in person.
It is operated by Avdhara Living Education, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Our contact email is info@avdhara.com. Where this policy and any other page disagree, this policy governs for matters of child safety.
2. Who This Policy Covers
- Every child of a family that uses Avdhara, whether or not the child ever sees anything we make
- Every parent and carer in our community, including those who have only subscribed or written to us
- Every person who works with Avdhara: founders, staff, Circle facilitators, writers, contractors, partners and volunteers
- Every space we run: this website, our email, WhatsApp groups and video calls that carry our name, and any in-person gathering
In this policy, a child is anyone under 18. Avdhara is designed for and addressed to parents; children are never our users.
3. Children's Data: What We Hold and What We Refuse
We collect no personally identifying information about any child. This is a design decision, not only a legal one: there is nothing Avdhara needs to know about an individual child in order to help a parent.
- We do not ask for a child's name, date of birth, photograph, school, location, health information or contact details, and our forms have no fields for them
- The only child-related information we hold is an age range, such as 4 to 6 years, chosen by a parent to personalise a pathway or a Journal reading list
- If a parent writes a child's name into a free-text message or a story, we treat it as the parent's own message, do not publish it, and remove it on request
- No information about a child is ever used for advertising, profiling, scoring, ranking or comparison, and none is shared with or sold to any third party
- Our analytics record which pages are read and which buttons are pressed. They carry no names, no email addresses and nothing about a child
4. Alignment With Data Protection Law
Avdhara is an Indian company and is written to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP). Under DPDP, any processing of a child's personal data needs verifiable parental consent and may not track or target a child with advertising. Our answer to both is the same: we do not process children's personal data at all, so there is nothing to consent to and nothing to target.
The data we do hold belongs to adults: a parent's name, email address, phone or WhatsApp number where they gave it, the age range they chose, and the messages they sent us. It is collected for the purpose the parent gave it, kept only as long as that purpose needs, and deleted on request. The Privacy Policy sets out those rights in full.
We are not directed at children in the United States and do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13 anywhere. Even so, we design to the standard of the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) as well as DPDP: no collection from children, no behavioural advertising, and a parent in control of everything.
5. Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing
Avdhara is an offline-first platform. We believe children's attention is sacred and must be protected, not harvested. Every experience we design is meant to happen away from a screen, between a parent and a child.
- Our website and emails are for parents, not children
- We use no engagement traps, streaks as pressure, autoplay or infinite scroll
- We do not send notifications designed to pull a parent or a child back to a screen
- Where a video is offered, it is a parent watching a story about the work, not a child watching a screen
6. Content Standards
Everything Avdhara publishes, from a Journal article to a single line in an email, is:
- Reviewed before publication for accuracy and for age-appropriateness where children are the subject
- Free of violence, fear-based messaging, or anything that could distress a child or frighten a parent
- Written to build confidence and calm, never anxiety, urgency or comparison between children
- Clear that it is general guidance for parents and never medical, psychological or clinical advice about a particular child
- Reviewed against our brand rules, which prohibit fear marketing, false urgency, and ranking one child against another
7. The Adults Who Work With Families
Every person who works with Avdhara agrees to this policy in writing before they meet a family. In particular:
- Facilitators and staff are identified by their real name and role in every session, message and email
- No adult working with Avdhara initiates private contact with a child. Communication is with the parent, who is present for anything a child takes part in
- Any session, in person or online, where a child is present has the child's own parent present too. Avdhara does not take children into its care
- Adults do not ask a child, or a parent about a child, for anything this policy says we do not collect
- A breach of these rules ends the person's work with Avdhara and, where the law requires, is reported to the authorities
8. Parent Circles and Online Gatherings
Our Parent Circles are for adults only. In all community spaces, including WhatsApp groups and video calls that carry our name:
- Children's identities are protected: no child's full name, school, photograph or location is shared by anyone
- Facilitators are briefed on creating safe, non-judgmental spaces and on what to do if a concern is raised
- Any content that could identify or endanger a child is removed immediately and the person who posted it is spoken to
- Conversations are not recorded or stored without the explicit consent of everyone present
- A parent may leave any group or call at any time, and may ask us to delete what they contributed
9. Parent Stories
When parents share stories about their children:
- No child's full name is ever published
- No child's photograph or video is ever published without explicit written consent from both parents, given for that story
- Stories are published with the parent's first name and city only, and the parent sees the final text before it appears
- A parent can ask for a story to be changed or removed at any time, and we act within 7 working days
10. Safeguarding
If any member of our community, including our own staff, becomes aware of a situation where a child may be at risk of harm:
- Contact the relevant authorities in your local area immediately. In India, Childline is on 1098, and the police on 112
- You may also notify us at info@avdhara.com with the subject line CHILD SAFETY, and we will respond within 24 hours
- We will cooperate fully with any statutory investigation and preserve any information an authority asks us to keep
- We will never ask a person who raises a concern to prove it before we act on it
If you believe a child is in immediate danger, please contact your local emergency services first. Do not wait for us.
11. Reporting a Concern About Avdhara
If you have any concern about child safety in relation to Avdhara's content, community, people or practices, including a concern about a member of our team:
- Email info@avdhara.com with the subject line CHILD SAFETY. It reaches the founders directly, who act as the Child Safety Leads
- We acknowledge every such message within 24 hours
- We investigate and respond fully within 5 working days, and tell you if a matter needs longer and why
- All concerns are treated with the highest confidentiality. Raising one in good faith never counts against anyone
- If your concern is about a founder, say so, and the other founder handles it
12. Review of This Policy
This Child Safety Policy is reviewed every six months, immediately after any incident or concern that requires it, and whenever the law it refers to changes. Each review is recorded with its date. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. Material changes are announced to subscribers by email before they take effect.
13. Our Promise
We will never compromise on the safety, dignity or wellbeing of any child. If we ever fall short of this standard, we want to know immediately. Your trust is not taken lightly.
