Effective Date: August 2, 2026
Last Updated: August 2, 2026
Applies to: United States and Canada
1. What this page is
This page tells you what we check, what we do not check, what is not allowed on BirthBridge, and what happens when someone reports a problem.
We have tried to write it so that it is useful when something has gone wrong, which is usually when people read a page like this.
In an emergency, call 911 in the United States or Canada, or your local emergency number. BirthBridge is not monitored in real time. Nobody is watching messages as they arrive.
2. What we check about professionals
This is the section families most often assume wrongly, so it comes first.
What a listing actually is
A profile on BirthBridge is written by the professional about themselves. Their credentials, training, insurance status, service description, and pricing are entered by them. Our Terms require that to be accurate, and we act when we find out it is not — but a listing is a self-description, not a finding by us.
What we may do
We may ask a professional for documentation of identity, certification, licence, registration, or insurance, and we may check a credential directly with the body that issued it. We may do this at signup, at random, or when something prompts us to.
We do not do this for every professional, and we do not check every credential.
What we do not do
- We do not run criminal background checks, and we do not obtain any other consumer report. If we ever start, we will follow the disclosure and authorization process the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires, and the equivalent in your province. Terms Section 7 says the same thing.
- We do not verify that insurance is in force. We require professionals to carry it. We do not confirm it is current.
- We do not assess anyone's competence, safety, or clinical judgement. We are not qualified to and we do not attempt it.
- We do not endorse anyone. Appearing on BirthBridge is not a recommendation from us.
So what does a badge or label mean
Where anything on the Platform describes a professional or a review as checked or verified, it means only the specific thing named, at the time it was checked. It never means we have screened someone for your safety.
If anything on BirthBridge reads to you as a promise we have not made here, tell us at hello@mybirthbridge.com. We would rather hear from you than have you rely on something we did not mean.
What we ask you to do
Please check for yourself before you book:
- Confirm a licence or registration with the regulator directly. For registered midwives in Canada, each province's college keeps a public register. Schedule B6 of our Terms explains this.
- Ask to see current proof of insurance.
- Ask for references, and interview more than one person.
- Trust your read of the conversation. You are allowed to change your mind after a call.
3. Titles and scope of practice
Some professional titles are legally protected, and using one without authorization is an offence rather than an exaggeration.
- "Midwife" is a protected title in most Canadian provinces and in many US states. Only a person registered with the relevant regulator may use it or hold themselves out as able to practise midwifery.
- "Doula," "childbirth educator," and "postpartum doula" are not regulated titles in Canada, and generally not in the United States. Certification from a training organization is meaningful, but it is not government regulation, and we do not represent otherwise.
- Nobody may perform an act restricted to a regulated health profession unless they belong to that profession and are authorized to perform it.
We remove listings that misuse a protected title. If you believe someone is doing this, report it. This is one of the few things we act on immediately rather than after a conversation.
4. What is not allowed
- Impersonating anyone, or misrepresenting qualifications, identity, or affiliation.
- Harassment, threats, intimidation, or stalking.
- Discrimination, hate speech, or slurs.
- Sexual misconduct, sexual content directed at someone who did not invite it, or any sexual content involving a minor.
- Giving medical advice you are not qualified to give.
- Discouraging anyone from seeking medical care. This is treated as a serious violation, not a difference of opinion.
- Claims about health outcomes that cannot be supported — including claims about birth outcomes, fertility, infant health, or mental health.
- Fraud, scams, fake listings, fake reviews, and payment fraud.
- Collecting other users' personal information beyond what a booking requires, and scraping listings.
- Unsolicited commercial messages. Professionals may not cold-contact families.
- Sharing someone else's private information, including information about a birth or a health condition belonging to a person who did not agree to it.
- Anything unlawful, or anything that breaches a professional obligation you have.
5. Reporting something
Email hello@mybirthbridge.com. Tell us what happened, who was involved, and where to look. Screenshots help. If you are worried about your safety, say so at the top and we will treat it that way.
What happens next:
| Step | What we do |
|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | We confirm we received your report, normally within 2 business days |
| Triage | We assess urgency. Reports involving safety, a minor, threats, or unlicensed practice go to the front of the queue |
| Investigation | We look at what we can see, which may include message content where the report requires it |
| Action | We do nothing, warn, restrict a feature, suspend, or remove an account |
| Telling you | We tell you we reached an outcome. We may not be able to tell you what action was taken about another person's account |
We may look at message content to investigate a report. We do not read messages otherwise. Section 3.1 of our Health Information Policy sets out exactly when we access message content.
Reporting in good faith will never count against you, even if we conclude nothing happened.
6. What we do about it
We try to match the response to what happened, and to say why.
- A conversation. Most problems are a misunderstanding or a listing that drifted out of date.
- Removing or correcting content, including a listing, a photo, or a review.
- Restricting a feature, such as the ability to message.
- Suspension, while we look into something.
- Removal, for serious or repeated violations.
We act immediately, before any conversation, where there is a credible risk of harm, where a minor is involved, where someone is misusing a protected title, or where we are legally required to.
Otherwise we tell you what the problem is and give you a chance to respond before we act, and if the issue can be fixed we say how. That is in Terms Section 14, and it is a commitment, not a courtesy.
You can appeal any decision. See our Complaints and Appeals Policy.
7. Reviews
Our full position is in Section 11 of the Terms. The parts that matter most:
- We do not remove a review because it is negative, and we do not remove one because the professional it concerns asked us to.
- We do not currently check each review against a completed booking record before publishing it. A published review means an account holder said this, not that we established it.
- We remove reviews that contain threats, slurs, harassment, someone else's private or health information, spam, or that are not about a real experience — and we tell the author why, and let them respond.
- Fake reviews, paid reviews, reviews of your own business, and undisclosed insider reviews are prohibited, and we remove them and act on the account.
8. Off-platform, and what we cannot see
If you move a conversation off BirthBridge — to personal email, text, or another app — we lose the ability to help. There is no message record for us to look at, and no account behaviour for us to act on.
We understand why people do it, and we are not going to pretend a rule stops it. But if something goes wrong off-platform, the honest answer is that we probably cannot do much, and you should go to the professional's regulator or certifying body, and to your local consumer protection authority.
9. Working with regulators and law enforcement
We do not hand over information voluntarily. How we handle legal requests, including the heightened protection we apply to anything revealing pregnancy or reproductive health care, is set out in our Law Enforcement and Government Requests policy.
If a professional's conduct is a matter for their regulatory college or certifying body, we will tell you how to reach them, and we will cooperate with a legitimate regulatory investigation.
10. What we do not do
We would rather be clear about the edges of this.
- We do not supervise care, and we do not intervene in a clinical decision.
- We do not mediate a dispute about money, quality, or a cancellation. Those are between a family and a professional. We may help you communicate.
- We do not monitor messages in real time.
- We do not guarantee anyone's safety, and we do not promise an outcome.
11. Contact
BirthBridge, LLC
Texas, United States
hello@mybirthbridge.com
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