These Terms of Use form an agreement between you and Acorns Nest, Inc. ("Acorns Nest", "we", "us", "our") governing your use of the Acorns Nest mobile app, the director dashboard, and this website (together, the "Service").
By signing in to or otherwise using the Service, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the Service. Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms.
1. The Service
Acorns Nest provides recordkeeping and communication software licensed to childcare centres. Acorns Nest is not a childcare provider, does not supervise children, does not employ centre staff, and is not a party to any agreement between you and your centre.
Commercial terms, including fees, are governed by the separate agreement between Acorns Nest and your childcare centre.
2. Accounts
Accounts are issued by your childcare centre or, in the case of directors, by Acorns Nest. The Service does not offer self-registration.
You must be at least 18 years of age to hold an account.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Do not share your password or permit another person to sign in as you. Keep your account details current, and notify your centre's director immediately if you believe your account has been compromised.
Your centre may suspend or terminate your access at any time, including when a child leaves the centre or a staff member's employment ends.
3. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Access any child record, photograph, message, or classroom for which you have not been granted access
- Probe, scan, or attempt to circumvent the Service's authentication or access controls
- Copy, scrape, or extract information relating to children other than your own
- Redistribute photographs or care records of other families' children, including by publishing them to social media
- Upload material that is unlawful, harassing, or harmful, or that you do not have the right to upload
- Impersonate another person or knowingly record inaccurate information
- Interfere with the operation of the Service, or use it to transmit unsolicited messages or malicious code
- Reverse engineer, resell, or sublicense the Service
Staff and directors may record a child's health information, emergency contacts, and photographs only where the centre has obtained the consent required by law.
We may suspend access immediately where we reasonably believe these terms have been breached and children's information is at risk.
4. Content you submit
You retain ownership of the content you submit to the Service, including photographs, notes, messages, and care records. You grant Acorns Nest a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, transmit, and display that content solely for the purpose of operating the Service for your centre and the families it serves. This licence ends when the content is deleted, except for copies held in backups or retained under the retention schedule set out in our Privacy Policy.
You are responsible for the accuracy of the content you record and for holding the rights necessary to submit it.
5. Safety and limitations
The Service displays allergy, medication, and emergency contact information for convenience of reference. That information reflects what has been entered by a user and is not a verified medical record.
- The Service does not replace your centre's own safety and emergency procedures. In an emergency, contact emergency services.
- You must not rely solely on the Service before feeding a child or administering medication, and must confirm the information against your centre's authoritative records and protocols.
- Information in the Service is only as accurate and current as the entry made by the user who recorded it.
- Records and notifications may be delayed or fail to appear because of network conditions, device or operating system settings, third-party notification infrastructure, or user error. Push notifications are not a guaranteed delivery mechanism, and the absence of a notification does not confirm that no event has occurred.
- Output generated by artificial intelligence features is informational only. It does not constitute medical, nutritional, or developmental advice and may be inaccurate.
6. Your centre's responsibilities
Your childcare centre determines what information is recorded, which staff may view it, when daily care records are released to parents, and how long records are retained. The centre is responsible for obtaining consent from families and for the accuracy of information entered by its staff.
Questions about a specific record, including requests to correct or delete one, should be directed to your centre's director in the first instance.
7. Availability and modifications
We aim to keep the Service available but do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation. We may suspend access for maintenance and may add, modify, or withdraw features. Where a change materially reduces functionality on which your centre relies, we will provide the centre with reasonable notice.
8. Intellectual property
The Service, including its software, design, and trademarks, is owned by Acorns Nest and its licensors. These terms grant you a limited, personal, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service for so long as your centre's access remains active. No ownership interest is transferred to you.
9. Termination
You may stop using the Service at any time. Your centre may terminate your access at any time. We may suspend or terminate access where you breach these terms, where your centre's agreement with us ends, or where necessary to comply with law or to protect the security of children's information.
On termination, the retention provisions of our Privacy Policy govern the treatment of records.
10. Disclaimers
Except to the extent that applicable law does not permit it, the Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranty of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any record or notification will be delivered on time or at all.
Some jurisdictions do not permit the exclusion of certain warranties, in which case parts of this section may not apply to you.
11. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Acorns Nest is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data, or goodwill.
Our aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Service, across all claims, is limited to the greater of CAD $100 or the amount your centre paid us for the Service in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.
12. Indemnity
If you are a childcare centre or a member of its staff, you agree to indemnify Acorns Nest against claims, losses, and reasonable legal costs arising from your breach of these terms, your unlawful use of the Service, or the entry of a child's information into the Service without the consent required by law. This section does not apply to parents or guardians using the Service in respect of their own children.
13. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Nova Scotia and the federal laws of Canada applicable in that province, without regard to conflict of laws principles. The courts of Nova Scotia have exclusive jurisdiction, except that a consumer may bring a claim in the courts of their own province where applicable law provides that right.
14. Changes to these terms
We may revise these terms. Where a revision is material, we will update the "Last updated" date and notify centre directors before it takes effect. Continued use of the Service after that date constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. If you do not accept them, discontinue use of the Service and contact your centre.
15. General
If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these terms. We may assign them to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These terms together with the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and us in respect of the Service.
16. Contact
Acorns Nest, Inc.
5651 Ogilvie Street, Unit 411
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1B9
Canada
support@acornsnest.com