Families come in all shapes and sizes. Managing the complexities of relationships, whether in real life or a database, can be complicated. Luckily, Rock is very flexible. Below we discuss some of the options for entering blended families.

Dual Family Approach

When parents have dual custody and both parents are involved with your organization, you may wish to use the dual family approach. In our example below Ben and Sarah Jones divorced a couple of years ago. Both have joint custody of their son Brian. Sarah went on to marry Jim Simmons. This is one way to set up these two families.

In this example Brian, the child, is in both families. He is still one record in the database, but he is a member of both families. This approach has some details you should know about.

• In reporting, Brian will be listed as a single record. However, if your reports list families, this pattern will add two families to the results.
• Brian can be checked in using either family’s contact information.
• Mailings will be sent to both home addresses.
• A report showing the parents of Brian will include Ben Jones as well as Jim and Sarah Simmons. Each family will be listed as separate rows on the report.

Single Family with Relationships Approach

In the single-family approach the children of blended families are only connected to a single family and relationships are used to link them to other individuals (e.g., for check-in).

This approach may be preferable in cases where one parent has sole custody or if the other family doesn't participate in your organization. In this approach, reporting and most other features act just like a typical family. Check-in can be allowed by other individuals using the relationship of Can Check-in.