To ensure that the Adoption Mid and West Wales Forums and Dear Adoption Team chats are a safe, supportive and smooth-running facility for Member’s Area users, Adoption Mid and West Wales has created the following Member’s Area Rules of Use.
At any time, should we be concerned about a community user, the content of their post or anything that raises concerns regarding safeguarding or welfare of children or vulnerable adults, we have a responsibility to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, as per our organisational safeguarding policy.
1. Whilst the forum is in a secure area of the website, to protect your identity and security, we therefore ask that you remain completely anonymous on the message boards and do not divulge any identifiable details about yourself, your family or any other third parties (for example: do not include names, locations, contact details, schools attended etc). We ask that you always use your anonymous online username (created at registration) and that you create additional online nicknames for family members, as required.
2. The forums are for adopters, prospective adopters and those interested in adoption to communicate advice, support and knowledge and to respectfully express their opinions in discussions – regardless of their level of adoption experience or time as forum users. All forum users must be respectful of other users’ opinions and experiences. Adoption Mid and West Wales does not tolerate any form of verbal abuse, online bullying or deliberate attempts to initiate tension/arguments on the forums or Dear Adoption Team page. Any user found to break this rule will receive a formal warning and/or, in extreme or persistent cases of this rule break, may be suspended/banned from the Adoption Mid and West Wales Member’s Area.
3. You must not include in your forum posts any swearing, offensive or taboo language. However, within reason, Adoption Mid and West Wales permits the use of part-asterisked (*) words only to describe extreme situations. Nonetheless, extensive asterisked swearing, or implied swearing at other forum users, is not permitted.
4. The Forums must not be used to post or link to any material that is: illegal, defamatory, threatening, offensive, abusive, obscene, racially, sexually or otherwise discriminatory, knowingly or potentially inaccurate, libellous, anything that could encourage or constitute a criminal offence, anything that gives rise to civil liability or causes harm, loss or suffering, anything objectionable of any nature or anything else which disrupts the smooth running of the message boards.
5. Information or opinions posted by message board users on the Forums or Dear Adoption Team page do not reflect the opinions or recommendations of Adoption Mid and West Wales and Adoption Mid and West Wales cannot be held responsible for any consequences that may arise from the content of forum users’ posts. We therefore ask that forum users also carefully consider the content which you post on the forum as users are fully responsible (and potentially legally liable) for any consequences that occur as a result of the content of their posts.
6. Even though anonymous usernames/nicknames are used on the Adoption Mid and West Wales forums, we also ask that forum users carefully consider the level of information that is shared about their children’s histories and backgrounds. This is out of respect for the children as, in many cases, the information is their information to share if/when they choose to and, even where anonymised, it may not be appropriate or fair to a child for a parent to share details about their past on an online forum.
7. In accordance with copyright laws of Fair Dealing , you may post on the Adoption Mid and West Wales Forums small quotes and excerpts of content (poems, songs, articles, extracts from books, journals and magazines, recipes, extracts from external websites, information specifically sourced from a training event ) which is held under intellectual property rights by a third party. However, the author and source of the content must be clearly acknowledged and the content must be deemed appropriate and justified. If you are unsure of the source/owner of the content, please refrain from posting. If the content is your own, please clearly state this.
8. You may not use the Adoption Mid and West Wales Forum to promote, link to or gain support for an external organisation or website that you either run yourself or work/volunteer for, whether the organisation or website is commercial or not-for-profit, without prior permission from Adoption Mid and West Wales. If you would like to publicise an organisation or website that you run yourself or work/volunteer for, on the forum, please contact the Team at adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk with this request. In cases where requests are granted, the Adoption Team will post details on the user’s behalf.
9. You may not use the forums to appeal for sponsorship or funds.
10. You may not use the Adoption Mid and West Wales forums to make media or research requests without prior permission from Adoption Mid and West Wales. Media and research requests should be made through Adoption Mid and West Wales by contacting the Online Team at adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk . This is to ensure all requests are genuine and appropriate for the forum. In cases where requests are granted, the Adoption Team will post details on the user’s behalf.
11. Due to important issues surrounding safety and liability, you may not use the Adoption Mid and West Wales forum to promote non-Adoption Mid and West Wales events or organised activities without prior permission from Adoption Mid and West Wales. Requests should be made through Adoption Mid and West Wales by contacting the Team at adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk . Requests to promote events which are deemed by Adoption Mid and West Wales to be genuine, meet certain safety requirements and are complementary to Adoption Mid and West Wales’ existing services of work, will be granted and the details posted by the Team on behalf of the user. However, where there is concern surrounding the genuineness or safety of an event, or where an event is deemed not to compliment Adoption Mid and West Wales’ existing services of work, requests to promote the event on the forums will not be granted. Adoption Mid and West Wales runs secure, structured events and activities for its members including training events, family days and support groups. For more information on Adoption Mid and West Wales events, please contact the team at adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk Adoption Mid and West Wales accepts no responsibility for any harm, damage, loss or injury caused as a result of forum users attending non-Adoption Mid and West Wales events which are promoted on the Adoption Mid and West Wales message boards.
12. Due to important issues surrounding safety and liability, you may not use the Adoption Mid and West Wales Forum to arrange (for either yourself or others) any form of informal, non-Adoption Mid and West Wales ‘meet-up’ between forum users. Adoption Mid and West Wales runs secure, structured support groups for its members. For more information on the location of and how to attend Adoption Mid and West Wales support groups, contact the team at adoptionenquireies@carmarthenshire.gov.uk . Adoption Mid and West Wales accepts no responsibility for any harm, damage, loss or injury caused as a result of Adoption Mid and West Wales forum users meeting up privately under their own initiative via arrangements made through channels external to the Adoption Mid and West Wales forum. Where forum users do meet up privately under their own initiative, Adoption Mid and West Wales would always recommend following the Suzy Lamplugh Trust guidelines on reducing the risks associated with such activities.
13. You must not impersonate other online users, individuals or any other third parties.
4. Trolling, in the sense of people/hoaxers with no relation/interest in adoption using the Adoption Mid and West Wales Forums for the sole intention of causing trouble/seeking attention, is not tolerated by Adoption Mid and West Wales. Where any suspicious users are noticed Adoption Mid and West Wales will investigate and reserves the right to permanently ban from the Adoption Mid and West Wales forum and Member’s Area anyone found to be ‘trolling’.
15. If forum users suspect that another user is a ‘troll’, they should report their suspicions to the team by emailing adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk . It is not acceptable to (directly or indirectly) publicly suggest that another user is a ‘troll’. Where any users do publicly suggest this, their post(s) will be removed and they will receive a formal warning in accordance with rule two of these Rules of Use.
16. We ask that you adhere to the specific topic areas of the Adoption Mid and West Wales forums. Please keep ‘off topic’ posts (such as discussions on popular culture, the weather, children’s toys, recipes etc) to the ‘General’ forum. Also, although we understand that the Adoption Mid and West Wales forums are a space to discuss issues, please also note that extremely long posts can disrupt the smooth running of the forums and time spent moderating them can affect the speed at which other issues are dealt with.
17. By submitting content to the Adoption Mid and West Wales forum, users are granting Adoption Mid and West Wales the right to republish or link to forum posts, without seeking prior permission from the original poster, in other areas of the Adoption Mid and West Wales website, official Adoption Mid and West Wales social media channels, Adoption Mid and West Wales Newsletter, and in other printed Adoption Mid and West Wales materials such as magazine articles and special features. Any posts that may be chosen for this purpose will have been deemed to provide useful information or positive experiences that the wider Adoption Mid and West Wales community could benefit from. In the vast majority of cases, only the title of the thread will be used, with an accompanying link to the specific are of the forum in which it is located. Where posts are republished in full in other Adoption Mid and West Wales materials, they will always remain in their original format so that their message board origin is clear. Please be assured that any decisions to republish posts will be taken with the utmost regard to the sensitivity and appropriateness of the material in the post. This is in line with Adoption Mid and West Wales’ Privacy Policy and content will never be passed to any other third parties for reproduction.
18. You must not partake in any activity which involves spamming, hacking, altering or adding to forum coding, exploiting code bugs or applying automatic scripts.
Forum Moderation
Every post on the Forums is read by a team member of Adoption Mid and West Wales, and moderated where necessary, within 24 hours of it being posted. The Adoption Mid and West Wales team reserve the right, without prior notice, to remove, edit or move any posts which are deemed to break any of the Rules of Use listed above.
The Adoption Mid and West Wales Team will, in most cases but not necessarily all, private message users involved to advise why posts have been removed/edited.
In instances of serious/persistent breaches of the Rules of Use, Adoption Mid and West Wales will issue a formal warning and operates on a ‘three strikes’ policy. Adoption Mid and West Wales reserves the right to temporarily suspend an online user’s profile or permanently ban users from posting on the forums. In the case of the latter, subsequent attempts to re-register as a user of the Member’s Area by a banned user, will be blocked.
Adoption Mid and West Wales decisions are final.
Adoption Mid and West Wales does not tolerate any level of verbal abuse directed at either Adoption Mid and West Wales team, based on them individually or on their moderating decisions, or towards Adoption Mid and West Wales as an organisation. Any forum users who do verbally abuse either the team or Adoption Mid and West Wales as an organisation will receive a formal warning and/or, in extreme cases, may be suspended/banned from the Member’s Area.
If you do wish to complain about either Adoption Mid and West Wales Team’s responses/decisions or responses/decisions made on the forums by Adoption Mid and West Wales directly, then please refer to our Complaints Policy and Procedure or contact the Team directly at adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk . Any threads discussing previous moderating decisions or Adoption Mid and West Wales decisions/responses may be closed by moderators. The Adoption Mid and West Wales Forums are available for online users’ personal use and, where possible (excluding necessary moderating duties), users are left to discuss topics at their leisure. However, where the Adoption Mid and West Wales moderators become aware of an extreme situation which requires additional/external support (such as a parent/child being in severe distress, a child or vulnerable adult protection issue or any other illegal activity), Adoption Mid and West Wales reserves the right to contact the Member’s Area user directly (via the details given at online registration). In addition to this, where details of a situation imply a significant threat to a person or persons Adoption Mid and West Wales reserves the right to contact the necessary authorities/agencies/third parties (irrespective of whether or not the forum user has been informed what action is being taken). This is in line with Adoption Mid and West Wales’ existing Privacy Policy and its Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy and will only be applied in very extreme circumstances.
Reporting forum content If you are concerned about the content of a forum post, either by another user or yourself, please use the ‘report this post’ link located underneath the post in question. Adoption Mid and West Wales will only respond directly to a report if the reporter has included their online username and/or if a reply is deemed necessary by the team. Deliberate misuse of the reported topic facility is not permitted. Alternatively, you can report posts to Adoption Mid and West Wales in the first instance at adoptionenquiries@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
If you have any further queries regarding these Rules of Use, please contact the Adoption Mid and West Wales Team at adoptionenquriies@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
Adoption Mid and West Wales reserves the right to change, edit or update these Rules of Use at any given date and without prior notice.