Households

A household is the people who live together: usually a family, sometimes a single adult, sometimes grandparents raising grandchildren. Households matter on Sunday (check-in finds a family by a guardian's phone), in giving (one statement per giving household) and in messages (children's news goes to their guardians).

When to use this

• A new family visits and you want to keep them together.
• A child is born, an adult child moves out, or a couple marries.
• A household has no primary contact, so mail and statements have nowhere to go.

Add a household

1. Open Households and select Add household.
2. Give it a name. "Sample household" style works well: the family name followed by "household".
3. Optionally pick the first member. Add the adults first; the first adult becomes the primary contact.
4. Select Add household, then add the rest of the family from the household page.

You can also create a household while adding a person, from the Household part of the Add person form.

Add or move members

On the household page:

• Add member adds someone already in People, or Someone new opens the Add person form.
• Move takes a member from this household to another one.
• Remove takes them out of this household only. Their record stays in People.

A person can belong to more than one household. That's the right way to record a child who lives in two homes: add them to both, so either parent's phone finds them at check-in.

A second parent or guardian

Most families with children have two adults who can drop off and collect them. On the household page, the adults are listed first:

• Parent/guardian 1 is the primary contact (or, if there isn't one yet, the adult added first).
• Parent/guardian 2 is the next adult. Both count as guardians at check-in and both get copies of children's messages.
• Any further adults, such as a grandparent who lives with the family, show as Other adult.

To add the second parent or guardian:

1. Open the household and select Add parent/guardian 2 beside Adults.
2. Choose Someone already in People and search for them, or Someone new and fill in their details.
3. Leave Make them the primary contact unticked, unless they should receive the household's mail.
4. Select Add, or Add to household for someone new.

For parents who live apart, add each parent to their own household and add the child to both.

The primary contact

Each household has one primary contact: the adult who receives the household's postal mail and its year-end giving statement, and who is the first person staff call. The primary contact is listed first, with a badge.

To change it, find the adult in the members list and select Make primary. Only adults can be the primary contact.

The No primary contact count at the top of Households shows how many households have none. Use the filter of the same name to find them, and set one on each.

Adults and children

Each member is an adult or a child in that household. The role decides who counts as a guardian at check-in and who receives a copy of messages meant for children.

• A child under 13 is always a child; the role can't be changed.
• A teenager or a grown-up son or daughter can be either. Choose Adult once they're old enough to be contacted directly.

Check-in room

The household page has a Check-in room section. Soon it will show each child's Sunday room, worked out from their birthday. Until then, rooms are set in Check-in, and a correct birthday on each child's record is the best preparation.

Rename or archive a household

• Rename changes the name only. A household imported from Elexio keeps its Elexio Family Id.
• Archive this household, at the bottom of the page, is for a household that no longer exists, for example after everyone has moved to other households. Nothing is deleted, and people keep their own records. Restore household undoes it.

Good to know

• In the connected directory, households are read-only while Elexio still owns people. The banner at the top says so; make changes in Elexio until check-in goes live.
• Households and people are separate records. Removing someone from a household never removes them from the directory.
• Statements follow the household's primary contact, so check it before year-end.
• The household list shows a family's children and members at a glance; select a name to manage it.

Top tips

• Use the No primary contact filter once a month; it takes two minutes and saves an awkward call in January about a missing statement.
• For blended families, add each child to both homes rather than choosing one; check-in and messages then work for every guardian.
• Name households consistently ("Lastname household") so they sort well and are easy to search.

Troubleshooting

I can't make someone the primary contact. Only adults can be. Change their role to Adult first, if that's right for them.

A child's role is locked to Child. Their birthday makes them under 13. If the birthday is wrong, correct it on their person record.

A family doesn't show at the check-in kiosk. The kiosk finds families by an adult's mobile number and needs a child of Sunday-class age. Check that a guardian has a mobile and that the child has a birthday.