Scout SuiteHow-to guide
Getting parents online
Portal access is a deliberate invite, not a side-effect of adding a child. A primary contact with an email is what gets the Accept Invitation link.
Watch this on its own pageA primary contact is who can log in
On a child's Contacts tab, Primary Contact (can login and track progress) is the flag that allows a Scout Suite login. Emergency contact, authorised to collect, and parental responsibility are separate ticks: someone can be an emergency contact and never see the portal.
Invite from Parent Invite Manager
From Young People, Parent Invites opens Parent Invite Manager: every primary contact across the group, with status Not invited, Invited, Link expired or Active. Active means the parent's account is linked. Invite or Reinvite needs an email on the contact. Add Primary Contact picks the young person, name, relationship, email and phone, and Send invitation email immediately is on by default.
Invitation links work for a week. When some have run out, Send new links at the top sends each of those parents a fresh one in one go. Otherwise you invite one contact at a time. You can also invite from the child's Contacts tab after saving (saving alone doesn't send the email). If you remove a parent's access, their contact goes back to Not invited so you can invite them again.
What the parent gets
The email invites them to that child's Scout Suite account. Accept Invitation lasts 7 days: they sign in or create an account, then Go to Family Portal. Signing in as a parent takes them straight to the portal rather than to setting up an organisation, and an invitation sent to their account's email also shows in the portal to accept, so a parent with a second child doesn't need to find the email.
What they can do once they're in is Using the family portal.
Contacts parents ask to add
A parent can ask to add another contact from the portal. When they do, the young person's Team Leaders get an email, it's listed under Contacts waiting for approval at the top of Young People, and the young person's Contacts tab shows a count. Review opens it. Check the contact is right, which may mean a quick word with the family, then Approve or Turn down.
An approved contact becomes an emergency contact. It isn't authorised to collect and has no parental responsibility until you set those on the contact yourself.
Choose the consents parents are asked for
Under Settings → General settings, Consents lists every consent type Scout Suite can record. Untick any your group doesn't use, marketing for example, and parents aren't asked for it in the portal, it isn't offered on the young person's record, and events can't require it. Anything already given stays on file.
After a waiting-list offer
Offering a place creates the young person and emails "please contact your group leaders": it does not create a primary contact or send this invite. Those children show under Young People Missing Primary Contact until you add one here.
How the queue and offer work is Running a waiting list.
People
More in this topic
Waiting lists, parents, moving on, and Explorer Units.