Adoption Website Sued for Sharing Sensitive Data With Tech Giants

Case Overview: A class action lawsuit claims LifeLong Adoptions secretly shared sensitive personal data, including private Browse activity, with Google and Facebook without user knowledge or consent.

Consumers Affected: U.S. women who visited LifeLong Adoptions' website to research adoption options, or seek information or a consultation, and whose sensitive information was allegedly tracked and disclosed.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Civil Division

LifeLong Adoptions, a national adoption agency, is facing a new lawsuit that accuses the company of secretly sharing sensitive personal data with tech giants Google and Facebook. 

The suit, filed on behalf of women who visited the company’s website while considering placing a child for adoption, claims LifeLong embedded tracking tools on its site that allowed third-party advertisers to monitor users' private activity without their knowledge or consent.

According to the complaint, simply browsing LifeLong’s website or filling out a consultation form triggered the transmission of deeply personal data to Meta and Alphabet platforms, linking users’ online activity with their real identities. 

This, the lawsuit alleges, resulted in women suddenly receiving targeted ads related to pregnancy, adoption, and other sensitive topics, prompting some to realize their information had been exposed.

LifeLong Adoptions Accused of Unauthorized Data Sharing

The lawsuit is led by two women—one in California and another in Pennsylvania—who say they reached out to LifeLong through its website during times of crisis. Each had accounts with Google and Facebook and was logged in on the same devices used to access LifeLong’s website. The suit claims that this allowed the tracking tools to match their online activity with their social media and search engine profiles.

Both women reported seeing adoption-related ads shortly after contacting LifeLong, leading them to suspect that their visits to the site were not as private as they had expected. Neither plaintiff had been informed that their data would be shared, nor had they given permission for it to be passed along to outside parties.

Private Browse Activity Allegedly Sent to Tech Companies

At the center of the case are marketing tools commonly used by websites, known as “pixels” and third-party “cookies”, which gather user behavior and funnel it to companies like Google and Facebook. 

The lawsuit alleges that LifeLong installed these tools on pages specifically targeting women facing unplanned pregnancies. These pages included contact forms, downloadable resources, and even a quiz to help users assess which kind of adoption might suit them.

Because many users were logged into Google or Facebook at the time of their visit, the companies were allegedly able to tie browsing habits back to individual user profiles. In effect, the lawsuit argues, this transformed deeply private decisions into marketable data points, without the users' informed consent.

LifeLong’s privacy policy claims it does not share information with third parties beyond what’s necessary to fulfill a user’s request—a statement the plaintiffs say is patently false.

Data Privacy Lawsuits Reflect Growing Concerns

Along with the lawsuit against LifeLong Adoptions, other companies, including CVS and GoodRx, have faced similar allegations in recent years. 

GoodRx agreed to a $25 million settlement over claims that it disclosed users’ health information to Facebook and Google without permission. CVS is also under scrutiny for allegedly allowing unauthorized data tracking through its online services.

Meanwhile, data breaches continue to be a growing concern in the healthcare industry, with numerous healthcare providers facing challenges in protecting patient and employee information. 

The rise in breaches has also led to an increase in legal action against healthcare organizations, as individuals seek to hold them accountable for lapses in data security. 

Recent examples include lawsuits against Tri-City Healthcare District, Hospital Sisters Health System and Kaiser Permanente, where plaintiffs allege that inadequate security measures and unauthorized data sharing with tech companies like Google and Microsoft compromised the personal information of millions of patients.

In their lawsuit against LifeLong, the plaintiffs want to represent anyone in the US who used the company’s website to research adoption. 

Case Details

• Lawsuit: E.H., et al. v. Lifelong Adoptions, Inc.
• Case Number: 1:25-cv-00441-JLT-BAM
• Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Civil Division 

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• Catherine E. Ybarra, Tyler J. Bean, and Sonjay C. Singh (Siri & Glimstad LLP)

Have you visited adoption websites and experienced privacy concerns? Share your perspective on data sharing below.