Adding children to the Children module

Adding new children is probably among the most basic functionality you'll use in the Children module so we've made the process easy and intuitive. As well as importing child data using the Import children option, you can add children individually, as explained in this article. We've produced a separate support article on Linking children to their parents/carers. Outside the scope of this article, but covered in the related articles, ChurchSuite includes a customisable newcomer connect form that can be used to collect details and areas of interest for new families - there are two versions of the form - one that can be embedded in your website and the other designed to be accessible through a device running at your Information Point using ChurchSuite Connect.

Introduction to the Children module

The Children section of the Children module is the core repository for children and young people. Here, you can switch between viewing children with an Active, Archived or Pending status.

Active

The Children module may well contain different types of children, not just those who are attending, serving or participating. The Active section is all those whom your church or organisation is 'touching and tracking', from the crowd to the core, at all levels of engagement or commitment and whom you consider to be actively part of your ministry and mission. They're all the people you might communicate with or wish to maintain historical or statistical data for. You can use Tags to distinguish the different levels of engagement of Active children and young people.

Archived

When people move on from your church or organisation, you may decide to delete them from the module. This would certainly be the best data protection practice if you no longer have a lawful basis for continuing to process personal information. However, subject to your data protection policy, you may prefer to archive children for a season, giving you the option to reinstate them again in the future or to delete them after a further period of inactivity. The archived section is helpful if you are required to maintain certain details about former members where you have a lawful basis. See the related support articles for further information on What happens when you archive or delete people.

Pending

When families submit their details through one of ChurchSuite's web-embedded features, new children are first added to the Pending section of the module. In this context, pending doesn't refer to a child's level of engagement. New people submitting their details through a ChurchSuite form on your website are subject to review and, if a legitimate submission, they can be set as Active or they can be deleted. Once set active, children cannot be set as pending again. Until set active, pending-status children are unable to participate in any wider ChurchSuite functionality. For example, only Active children can be processed through Flows, be assigned to Tags, be included in communications or show in most report results. The Pending section is, therefore, not the place for non-members! Those who you consider non-members should be tagged accordingly in the Active section of the Children module.

How to add a new child

Working in the Children section of the module, click Add child.

On the Add child pop-up, complete the various fields of child information. A child's first name is typically their 'known-as' name. Optional Middle Name and Formal Name fields can be enabled in the module settings - see later in this article. Click Save when you have finished entering all the child's information.

The newly-added child profile is displayed, showing all the Details just added, including any parent/carer specified when adding the child. You can return to a child's profile at any time in the future to Edit and make further changes. You can add other parents/carers - click Add parent/carer - see the related support article How to link a child to their parent/carer.

Returning to the Children section, you can add or import more children or search for children. The advanced search includes further search fields.

Child Actions enable you to View, Edit, Archive or Delete a child's profile.

Standard, optional and custom fields

In addition to the standard child fields, several optional fields can be enabled in the module settings, which are accessed using the cogwheel icon in the top-right corner of the module.

Click Edit and select the optional Fields you wish to make available for children's profiles. Optional fields that are not selected are hidden from the module. It will not be possible to generate reports for those fields or reference them as Smart Tag conditions. Any existing optional field data is retained but is also hidden.

You can add custom fields for any child information that doesn't fit within the module's standard or optional fields. For each custom field, you'll choose the information response type and whether a response is required. See the related support article: Adding custom fields for people.

Adding new children through My ChurchSuite

One of the features of the member-facing My ChurchSuite is enabling primary parents/carers to keep their children's details up to date, including adding new children. Before parents/carers can add details of a new child, you must first choose who can add new children. Head into the Children module settings via the cogwheels icon in the top right-hand corner of the module. On the My ChurchSuite Options tab, locate the Settings section and click Edit.

On the Settings pop-up, ensure My ChurchSuite access is enabled - the My Children section is not shown for anyone if disabled. Next, choose your preferred setting for Adding Children:

There are three Adding Children options controlling who can add new children: -

• Allow any contact with My ChurchSuite access to add their children (the default) - the My Children section is visible to all contacts with My ChurchSuite access and the Add child button is visible.
• Allow only existing parents/carers to add additional children - the My Children section is only visible to parents/carers with an existing linked child and the Add child button is visible.
• No one can add new children - the My Children section is only visible to existing parents/carers with an existing linked child and the Add child button is hidden.

The parent/carer Add child user experience opens a pop-up form through which they can enter all of the relevant details for the new child - contact details, relationship to the child, medical and additional needs information, communication options and photo/video consent. Clicking Save adds the new child profile to the Children module linked to their Address Book primary parents/carers. The new child is not auto-added to any groups.

Accounting for school-year offsets

Each child's date of birth is used to determine their age and school year, showing the class/grade applicable for your region and country. There are times when it may be necessary to override a child's default school year if they have graduated into the next school year early or stay back a year due to additional needs. The School Year Offset enables you to increase or decrease a child's school year artificially.

Here's how it works: Navigate to a child's profile page and click Edit. In this example, notice that the child is in school Year 10 based on their date of birth and age.

On the Edit child pop-up, scroll down to the School Year Offset (the default is no offset).

Selecting an offset of +1 has the effect of increasing the child's school year from Year 10 to Year 11:

Selecting an offset of -1 has the effect of reducing the child's school year from Year 10 to Year 9:

School year offsets have the effect of making the child seem older (+1/+2 years) or younger (-1/-2 years). However, adding a school year offset does not affect the child's actual age. For example, birthday reporting will always show a child's correct age based on their date of birth. Similarly, a school year offset does not affect the child's eligibility for children or youth groups, which continue to be based on the child's date of birth and age, not the school year they are in. However, a school year offset is taken into account when viewing reports that include the school year in the results or filtering options and when used in smart tag conditions.

Regional support for school year structure

We currently support school years in the local format (school year naming convention and school year start date) for the following locations:

• United Kingdom (with specific support for England/Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland separately)
• Australia (all states and territories)
• Canada (with specific support for BC and QC)
• Finland
• France
• Germany (Regions: Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen)
• Hong Kong
• Republic of Ireland
• The Republic of Korea (with specific support for International Schools)
• Netherlands
• Singapore
• Spain
• Sweden
• USA
• Zimbabwe

All other countries will default to the UK (England/Wales) school year settings. School-year support for other countries/regions can be considered upon request—email support@churchsuite.com.

You can change the School Year Structure for your ChurchSuite account in the Children module settings, accessed via the cogwheels icon in the top right corner of the module. On the Module Options tab, scroll down to the School Year Structure settings and Edit as appropriate.