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Children's Ministry

Parent Communication

These options put you in a good position to email, text, report on (e.g., Selected Labels), and export data related to parents.

The easiest way to send a message to parents is to use the Send to Parents checkbox on the Message tab when you send an email or text. Selecting this option sends the message to the parents of the recipients, with "parent" being any household member with the Household Position of "Head of Household" who has a valid email/phone number and is not inactive or deceased, as well as any heads associated via Other Households for non-custodial parents.

Otherwise, you can use selections of parents to communicate with using the following methods.

Create a Selection of Parents from a Selection of Kids

If you have a selection of kids, you can use the Transfer Selection tool to quickly get a selection of their parents.

  1. Create a selection of kids from any page. For example:
    • From the Group Participants page, search for 6th Grade Girls Yellow Group and select the returned results.
    • From the Events Participants page, search for 5th Grade Adventure Camp and select the returned results.
    • From the Group page, open the group record, click the Participants tab and select the participants, then transfer the selection to the Group Participants page.
  2. With your selection of kids selected, click Tools > Transfer Selection.
  3. Make sure Contacts is selected for the Target Page.
  4. Enter a meaningful name for your new selection.
  5. Enable the option for Select Heads Instead. If needed, you can also include non-custodial parents.
  6. Click Transfer.
  7. Close the tool.

You can find your selection on the Contacts page. Use the selection of parents for messages, labels, mail merge, and so on.

Create a Selection of Parents Based on Kids' Attendance Patterns

Use the Selected Group Attendee Search report to get a selection of parents based on their kids' attendance patterns.

  1. From the Groups page, select one or more groups.
  2. Click Reports > Selected Group Attendee Search.
  3. Use the parameters on this report to find kids within those groups that match the attendance patterns you want.
  4. For Print Head Info, select True.
  5. Click View Report.
  6. In the resulting report, click the link to create a saved selection of the heads for the listed individuals.
  7. Close the report.

You can find your selection (called "Group Attendee Search Results") on the Participants page. Use the selection for messages, labels, mail merge, and so on.

Note: Each time you run this and create a saved selection, the Group Attendee Search Results selection is overwritten. If needed, you can rename the saved selection to keep it for later.

Communicate with the Parents of Kids in Specific Groups

You can select specific groups and use the Parents of Group Members view to send communication.

  1. From the Groups page, select the group(s) you want.
    Note: This only works with your current/unsaved selection. To ensure you're only working with the groups you want, select Current/Unsaved Selection from the drop-down list at the bottom of the grid, and review the selected groups.
  2. Go to the Contacts page, and select the view titled Parents of Group Members.
    • Note that teachers and other adults in the selected groups also display in the list.
    • Anyone with a Household Position of "Adult Child" will not yield parent results.
  3. Select the parents you want to communicate with, and use the selection for messages, labels, mail merge, and so on.
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Last updated: July 12, 2024