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Children's Ministry

Parent Communication

This section covers how to create parent selections from kid selections and how to send communications to those parents.

These options help you email, text, report on, and export data related to parents.

The easiest way to send a message to parents is to use the Send to Parents check box on the Message tab when you send an email or text. Select this option to send the message to the parents of the recipients. A "parent" is any Household member with a Household Position of Head of Household and a valid email address. This person must be active and can't be deceased. This person can also be a Head of Household associated through Other Households for non-custodial parents.

Otherwise, you can use selections of parents to communicate with them 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, select the Participants, and then transfer the selection to the Group Participants page.
  2. With your selection of kids selected, click Tools > Transfer Selection.
  3. Select Contacts for the Target Page.
  4. Enter a 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 Yes.
  5. Click View Report.
  6. In the resulting report, click the link to create a saved selection of the Heads of Household for the listed individuals.
  7. Close the report.

You can find your selection, "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 system overwrites the Group Attendee Search Results selection. 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.
    1. In the selection menu at the bottom, select Current/Unsaved Selection.
    2. Review the selected groups to ensure you're only working with the groups you want.
  2. Go to the Contacts page, and select the Parents of Group Members view.
    Note: Parents of those marked with "Adult Child" as their Household Position do not display. Teachers and other adults in the selected group do not display.
  3. Select the parents you want to communicate with, then use the selection for messages, labels, mail merge, and so on.
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Last updated: October 4, 2024