Approved Pickups

An approved pickup is someone a family trusts to collect their children at check-out who is not part of the family — a grandparent, a family friend, a fellow church member, or a babysitter. Families add them to their own family record, the person gets a friendly heads-up, and their name and photo appear as a selectable option when staff check a child out.

Approved Pickup vs. Guardian

Approved pickups and guardians both show up in the check-out picker, but they are very different kinds of records:

A guardian is a member of the family. They have a full member record, may have a login, and can manage the family, register children, and receive event communication.
An approved pickup is a lightweight, standalone listing. They are never added to the family, never appear in your member or guardian lists, and have no access to the family's account. The only thing they can do is be selected at check-out.

Note

Use an approved pickup for anyone outside the household. If the person should actually be a part of the family — for example, a second parent or an older sibling who lives at home — add them as a guardian on the Guardians step instead.

Add an Approved Pickup

Approved pickups are managed from the Approved Pickups step of the Family Management Wizard. Families can reach it themselves from their My Family page, and admins can reach it by opening a family record from the Families page in the People section. The wizard has four steps — Family Overview, Children, Guardians, and Approved Pickups — so open the wizard and move to the last step.

The Approved Pickups step of the Family Management Wizard with a shield icon and an Add Approved Pickup button — The Approved Pickups step lists everyone a family has authorized, with an option to add more

Open the Approved Pickups step

From My Family (for parents) or a family record on the Families page (for admins), open the family wizard and select the Approved Pickups step. The first time, you'll see an empty state with an Add First Pickup button.

Add the person's name

Click Add Approved Pickup and enter the person's first and last name. Both are required.

Add a phone number or email

Enter a phone number, an email, or both. At least one is required — it's how the person receives their heads-up, and how they get connected later if they make an account. If you leave both blank, you'll see "Add a phone number or email so they can be contacted."

Choose a relationship (optional)

Pick how the person knows the family from the Relationship menu — Grandparent, Aunt / Uncle, Adult sibling, Family friend, Church member, Neighbor, Babysitter / Nanny, or Other. This label is shown to check-out staff next to the person's name.

Add a photo (recommended)

Upload a Pickup Photo. A photo helps staff confirm who the person is at the pickup counter, so it's the single most useful thing you can add for everyone's safety.

Save

Click Save. The person is added to the family's approved-pickup roster and a heads-up notification goes out to them automatically.

Tip

A clear, recent photo is the best safeguard at check-out. Staff compare the person in front of them to the photo before releasing a child, so encourage families to add one for every approved pickup.

The Heads-Up Notification

As soon as an approved pickup is added, the platform sends that person a one-time heads-up so the listing is never a surprise. It names who added them and which church, and explains that they're now allowed to pick the children up at check-in. The message reads roughly:

"Hi [Name], [Family member] listed you as an approved pickup for their kids at [Church] — you're allowed to pick them up at check-in. If you ever make a [Church] account with this number or email, you'll be connected automatically. Not expecting this? You can ignore it."

The notification goes out by text message when the church has the SMS add-on and a phone number was provided.
Otherwise it falls back to email if an email address was provided.

Note

The heads-up is best-effort and never blocks adding the pickup. If the person has no phone or email, or delivery fails, the listing is still created — they simply won't get the courtesy notification.

Connecting an Account ("Is this you?")

Approved pickups don't need an account. But if the same person later creates an account with the church using the matching phone number or email, they'll see an "Is this you?" prompt after signing in, offering to connect the listing to their account. When they tap Yes, connect, the listing links to their account.

Once connected, the pickup shows a Connected badge in the family's Approved Pickups step. Connecting is purely a convenience — it links the records together but does not add the person to the family or grant any new access. They remain an approved pickup, nothing more.

After connecting, the person can see the families they've been approved to pick up for under My Profile → Trusted Pickup. It's a read-only list, scoped to the church they're viewing, showing each family, the children they can collect, and who added them. They won't see it until they've connected at least one listing — the tab simply shows an empty message otherwise.

Tip

This is why entering a phone or email matters. It's the link that lets the listing recognize the person if they ever join the church on the platform — so the prompt reads as "oh, that makes sense" rather than a surprise.

Selecting an Approved Pickup at Check-Out

Approved pickups appear right alongside guardians on the secure check-out page. When a family is picked up, staff open the Check Out flow for that family (for example, from an On Site card on the VBS Event Day board).

Select the children leaving

On the check-out page, choose the child or children being picked up.

Pick who is checking out under "Who is picking up?"

The picker lists the family's guardians first, then its approved pickups. An approved pickup row shows their photo and a subtitle like Grandparent · Approved pickup so staff can tell them apart from guardians at a glance. Select the approved pickup who is present.

Confirm identity and check out

Compare the person in front of you to the photo and relationship on the record, then complete the check-out. The pickup is recorded as an authorized pickup so your records show exactly who collected the child.

Warning

Always verify the adult before releasing a child. If the person is not listed as a guardian or an approved pickup for that family, pause the pickup and contact the primary guardian before releasing the child.

Editing or Removing an Approved Pickup

On the Approved Pickups step, click the pencil icon on a pickup to edit their name, contact info, relationship, or photo, then save. Click the trash icon to remove them. Removing an approved pickup means they can no longer be selected at check-out — use it the moment a family no longer wants someone authorized.

Note

Approved pickups belong to a single family. If a family is deleted, its approved-pickup listings are removed with it. A listing is never shared between families, even if the same grandparent is approved by two different households.

Permissions

Any guardian can add and manage their own family's approved pickups from My Family, and admins can manage them from a family record on the Families page. Selecting an approved pickup at check-out requires check-out access — typically childcare.manage or childCheckin.checkOut, or being assigned as staff to the child's room.

Approved Pickups

Approved Pickup vs. Guardian

Add an Approved Pickup

Open the Approved Pickups step

Add the person's name

Add a phone number or email

Choose a relationship (optional)

Add a photo (recommended)

Save

The Heads-Up Notification

Connecting an Account ("Is this you?")

Selecting an Approved Pickup at Check-Out

Select the children leaving

Pick who is checking out under "Who is picking up?"

Confirm identity and check out

Editing or Removing an Approved Pickup

Permissions

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