Manage contacts and collection permissions
Keep contact details, app access and permission to collect a child clear.
Checked against Meadow on 2026-10-12
Open the child’s Family tab to review the people connected to them. Owners, managers and senior practitioners manage contacts; parents can also manage contacts for their linked children.
Check three separate things
| Detail | What it means |
|---|---|
| Relationship, such as Mum or Grandad | Describes the person’s relationship to the child. |
| Contact permissions | Say whether they are an emergency contact, can collect the child or can view the child. |
| Meadow invitation and role | Give the person a login and decide what they can do when signed in. |
Saving someone’s phone number does not send an invitation. Calling someone “Grandad” does not automatically make them an approved collector.
Add or update a contact
- Open Children, select the child and open Family.
- Add a contact, or open an existing contact’s edit action.
- Check their name, relationship, email and phone number.
- Set the relevant contact permissions and collection access.
- Save, then check the contact appears correctly on the child’s record.
Use the primary contact to identify the person your team should normally approach first. Review emergency and collection details with the family regularly.
A contact linked to more than one child
A sibling can share an existing contact. Check the relationship and permissions for each child: being linked to one child is not a reason to assume the same access is correct for another.
Before removing or restricting a contact, check the child and person you have selected. If the aim is to stop a person seeing a child, review the viewing permission and account access, not just the relationship label.
Next: Invite parents and family.