The short version for kids: we only keep what you need to save your work. A grown-up is in charge of the account. We never show your name to anyone else, there are no ads, and you can't chat with strangers here.
Who this notice is for
Young Researchers is made for children to use with a parent, guardian or group leader. Children may not create accounts themselves. Every account is created by an adult (18 or older), who gives their date of birth and confirms they are not a child. A parent or legal guardian can then make up to three child profiles on their account.
What we collect
- The grown-up's account details — email address, name and password, handled as described in the main Privacy Policy.
- The grown-up's date of birth and choices — to confirm they are an adult; whether the account is for a parent, a group leader or both; the name a leader chooses to show families; and when terms and permissions were accepted. The parent PIN is stored only as a one-way scrambled code (a hash) that nobody can read.
- Child profiles — for each child, the first and last name the parent types, plus a picture (an emoji) and a colour. We don't ask for a child's age, birthday, school, photo, address or contact details.
- Lesson progress and saved work — for each child profile: stars, which lessons are finished or in progress (and which question they're on), a short activity log (started, stuck, finished), and notes, trees and pin boards they save. Saved work is kept in a private “Young Researchers” project in the account.
We do not ask children for their full name, address, school, birthday, photos, or phone number, and we ask them not to type these into notes. Without an account, lesson stars are kept only in the browser on that device.
What we don't do
- No advertising, and no advertising or social-media tracking, in the kids' section.
- No shop, purchases or payments in the kids' section.
- No public profiles, comments, chat or messaging between users.
- We don't sell or rent personal information, and we don't share kids' work with other users.
- Kids' work isn't published to the archive unless the grown-up chooses to submit it.
Learning groups
An adult who sets their account up as a group leader can start a group with a join code. Only a parent or guardian, using their parent PIN, can add a child profile to a group, after seeing who leads it and agreeing to the Learning Groups Terms. The leader then sees only the child's first and last name, when they joined, and their progress on the lessons that group sets — never the parent's name or email, or the child's notes, tree, pin board or other work. Leaders can post announcements to the whole group; there is no private messaging. Only the parent can take a child out of a group (children can't leave on their own), and leaders can remove members. Group leaders are independent and are not checked or employed by us.
A child's family tree
The family tree in Young Researchers is private to the account and saved in its Young Researchers project. It isn't added to the public archive. Photos added to it are shrunk and stored privately for the account. We suggest only first names and birth years for living relatives, and never addresses or phone numbers.
Things kids make
Trading cards, postcards, passports, sticker trees, stories and interview answers stay in the browser until they are saved. Photos added to a trading card are never uploaded. Saved work goes into the account's private Young Researchers project like everything else.
Who can see a child's work
Saved work belongs to the account. The grown-up who owns the account can see, change, download and delete all of it from My Research on the main site. Holden's Archive administrators can access records only when needed to run, protect or support the site.
Websites we link to
Lessons and the research websites page link to other websites (such as WikiTree, Wikipedia, FamilySearch and government archives). Those websites have their own rules and privacy policies. We point this out on the page, and we encourage children to visit them with a grown-up and never sign up for anything without permission.
Parents' and guardians' choices
- Review your child's saved work at any time in My Research.
- Delete individual notes, or the whole Young Researchers project, from My Research.
- Withdraw permission and ask us to delete the account and everything in it.
- Ask us what information we hold about your child.
To make any of these requests, contact us through Support. We may need to confirm you are the account holder before acting.
How long we keep it
We keep saved work for as long as the account exists, or until the grown-up deletes it. When an account is deleted, its research projects and notes are deleted with it, except where we must keep limited records by law.
Changes to this notice
If we make a significant change to how kids' information is handled, we'll update this page and its date, and ask grown-ups to agree again where needed.