Web Policy

Last updated October 23, 2026

FOIA Policy

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Code of Virginia § 2.2-3700 et seq., gives citizens of the Commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials, and public employees.

How to request records, your rights under FOIA, the FOIA officer, and any charges are explained on the FOIA page:

https://dbhds.virginia.gov/freedom-of-information-act-requests

Information you send through this website, including email, search queries, and form submissions, may be a public record and may be released under FOIA unless an exemption applies.

HIPAA Privacy Policy

How DBHDS may use and disclose medical information, and how you can get access to it, is explained in the Notice of Privacy Practices. That notice covers the Central Office and the state facilities DBHDS operates.

https://dbhds.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/DBHDS-NPP-FINAL2.pdf

Do not send medical information, Social Security numbers, or other sensitive information in a general email or in a general contact form on this website. Use the secure method given for that service.

Terms of Use and Website Privacy Policy Statement

This statement explains how personal information is collected, used, secured, and accessed on the public websites owned and operated by DBHDS, including dbhds.virginia.gov and the facility sites that use this policy. Separate online services linked from this site, including training registration and the Delta sign-in system, apply their own notices when you use them.

DBHDS collects personal information only to the extent needed to provide a service or benefit, to answer a request, to operate and protect the website, or to meet a legal duty. DBHDS collects only information that is appropriate for that purpose. You may ask why information was collected and you may review information DBHDS maintains about you, as described under “Your information” below.

Personal information collected and kept through this website is maintained in compliance with the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act, Code of Virginia §§ 2.2-3800 and 2.2-3803.

DBHDS does not sell personal information. Email addresses, form submissions, and messages are used to respond to you and for the purpose you contacted DBHDS. They are not used for unrelated purposes and are not distributed to outside organizations except as this statement describes, as you authorize, or as the law requires.

Cookies and Collection of Information

Information you choose to provide. If you email DBHDS, use a contact or comment form, register for a training or event, search the site, or upload a file, DBHDS receives the information you submit. That may include your name, email address, telephone number, mailing address, the content of your message, and any file you attach. Provide only what the form or the request asks for.

Information collected automatically. When you visit this site, the web server and security systems record:

  • Internet Protocol (IP) address
  • date and time
  • pages requested
  • referring address
  • browser type and device type

This information is used to deliver the page, protect the site, measure performance, and troubleshoot problems.

Cookies: A cookie is a small file a website stores on your browser so the site can recognize that browser on a later visit.

This site uses cookies for the following purposes:

  • Site operation. The website stores a cookie that remembers a preference, such as a search or display setting, or that keeps a signed-in session working for an authorized user.
  • Measurement. This site uses Google Analytics to understand how the site is used. Google Analytics places a cookie on your browser and collects the pages you visit, the time of the visit, the site you came from, browser and device type, and an approximate location. DBHDS uses this information in aggregate to improve the site. DBHDS does not use it to identify you by name, and it does not sell it.

You can control or delete cookies in your browser. Blocking cookies may limit some features. Browser instructions are available from the browser maker.

Other services that receive technical information:

  • Google Fonts. The site loads typefaces from Google. Your browser contacts Google to retrieve those files, and that request includes your IP address.
  • Commonwealth branding bar. The Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) provides the “A Commonwealth of Virginia Website” bar at the top of public pages. If you use its translation feature, the text of the page is sent to the translation service. See “Translation” below.
  • Video. Some pages embed video from YouTube. Starting a video allows YouTube to set a cookie and collect information about your device. Where the page allows it, the site uses YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player.

DBHDS does not control those services. Their own privacy policies describe what they collect.

Security

DBHDS and its service providers use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Public web pages and ordinary email are not a secure way to send medical or other sensitive information.

Connection logs are kept for security, performance, troubleshooting, and legal duties. If monitoring shows evidence of an unlawful act, or of an attempt to disrupt DBHDS information technology resources, DBHDS retains the relevant logs and refers them to law enforcement.

A message sent to DBHDS that is itself unlawful, that seeks to aid an unlawful act, or that is meant to destroy or disrupt DBHDS systems is referred to law enforcement.

Before you send information to any website, keep your browser and security software current.

Link Policy

This site links to other government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses when those sites offer information that may be useful. Links on this site include Virginia’s eProcurement marketplace (eVA), the DBHDS Delta sign-in system, the Virginia Employment Commission, and the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities.

A link is provided for convenience. It is not an endorsement of the other site’s content, viewpoint, product, or service. See the disclaimer below.

This site also links to DBHDS accounts on other platforms, including Facebook and YouTube. Those platforms’ own terms and privacy policies apply when you use them.

Documents

Many documents on this site are provided as PDF files. Current browsers open a PDF without a separate plug-in. If you cannot use a document, contact DBHDS and ask for it in another format. See “Accessibility” below.

Accessibility

DBHDS is committed to making this website usable by people with disabilities and to conforming to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. That is the technical standard in the U.S. Department of Justice rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and it is the level required by the VITA web standard for Commonwealth websites.

If you have trouble using any page, document, video, or form, contact DBHDS and say what you were trying to do. DBHDS will work with you to provide the information in another way.

Accessibility, ADA complaint, and grievance information:

https://dbhds.virginia.gov/about-dbhds/americans-with-disabilities-act

Central Office: (804) 786-3921. TDD: (804) 371-8977. Email: webmaster@dbhds.virginia.gov.

Translation

The Commonwealth branding bar can translate pages automatically. Machine translation can be incomplete or inaccurate. The English text published by DBHDS is the official version. For an official translation of a specific document, contact the Central Office.

Disclaimer

When you leave a DBHDS site for another site, this statement no longer applies. The other site’s terms and privacy policy apply.

DBHDS works to keep this site current. DBHDS does not warrant that information on this site, or on any site linked from it, is accurate, complete, or up to date. DBHDS is not liable for losses caused by reliance on that information. Anyone who relies on information from this site does so at their own risk.

Commonwealth Branding Bar

As an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, DBHDS displays the Commonwealth branding bar at the top of public pages. VITA hosts that bar. DBHDS does not control it. If the bar does not load, the rest of the DBHDS page remains available.

Your Information

To ask what personal information this website has recorded about you, why it was recorded, or how it has been used, or to ask DBHDS to correct, update, or delete information that is inaccurate, outdated, or irrelevant, contact:

Webmaster
webmaster@dbhds.virginia.gov

Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services
1220 Bank Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Mailing address: P.O. Box 1797, Richmond, VA 23218-1797

For protected health information, see the Notice of Privacy Practices linked above.

For public records, use the FOIA page linked above. A FOIA request and a request to correct your own information are different requests.