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Child check-in and safe pickup
On a Sunday morning, a volunteer at the children's desk needs to know three things: who this child is, which room they go to, and who is allowed to take them home. Chimes answers all three from the records the church already keeps, and writes down every handover.
A child is in care only when a volunteer has confirmed it in person, and leaves only when a volunteer has checked the collecting adult against the approved list. A code, a family relationship or an attendance mark is never enough on its own.
In short
Handovers confirmed in person
A volunteer confirms each arrival and each release. Scans, codes and prints help, but never hand a child over by themselves.
Only approved adults
Pickup is limited to the collectors staff have approved for that child, and any restriction stops the release.
Private by design
Tags carry a first name and an identifier. Care notes and restrictions stay on screens only the assigned volunteers can open.
Church child check-in, from the door to pickup
Each service has its own session and rooms, so a church with two morning services runs two sessions side by side.
Volunteers see only the rooms they are assigned to. Teaching a class or belonging to a household gives no check-in access by itself.
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01
Set up rooms and the session
Rooms with age ranges and capacity, a timed session for the service, and the volunteers assigned to it.
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02
Find the child
Search by name for an enrolled or returning child, or add a visiting child with a guardian's contact.
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03
Confirm the handover
Check who is handing the child over and review their care notes, then confirm the child is in the room.
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04
Print the tag and slip
The tag goes on the child, the claim slip to the adult, privately.
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05
Release to an approved adult
Verify the collector and their claim, confirm the release, and the room roster updates for everyone.
A child tag and a private claim slip, on ordinary paper
Once a child is in care, the volunteer prints one sheet on any A4 or Letter printer and cuts it in two. The child tag shows only a first name, the room, the service and an identifier. The claim slip goes privately to the adult, with the code they will show at pickup.
Parents who have the member app also see the claim there. If the printer jams, the volunteer copies the same fields by hand. Nothing about allergies, restrictions or contact details is ever printed on a tag.
Support for dedicated label printers is built and being tested on real printers. Until a printer has passed those tests, Chimes keeps it switched off and tags print on paper.
- check Prints from the browser; no label printer needed
- check A lost slip is replaced only after a designated approver checks identity
- check Replacing a slip cancels every earlier code for that child
Secure child pickup, verified in two steps
First, the volunteer selects the adult in front of them from the child's approved collectors, reads the code on their claim slip and confirms they checked who they are. Then they confirm the physical release. Only then does the child leave care.
A pickup restriction stops the release however the code matches, and sends the volunteer to the safety desk. Five wrong codes lock the slip. Ending the service never releases anyone.
- check Approved collectors and restrictions reviewed by staff before use
- check Emergency contacts and care notes visible only on private screens
- check Every arrival, move and release kept with who confirmed it and when
Who is still in care, and who went home with whom
Before the session closes, the care report lists every child still in care, every release and transfer, and room moves and placement exceptions. Chimes refuses to close a session while a child is still in a room.
Arrivals can then be reconciled into the Sunday school register, marking present only the children who were really there. If the system was ever down, paper handover records are entered afterwards as evidence, alongside the online history.
- check Room capacity checked as each child arrives, with recorded exceptions
- check Moves between rooms and between services
- check Visiting children checked in without an account or membership
Prepare arrival from the member app
A parent can prepare a child's arrival before leaving home: choose the service and room, and get a pass with a QR code. At the door the volunteer scans it, sees the child and their care notes, and still confirms the handover in person.
A pass lasts up to thirty minutes and reserves nothing. Families without a smartphone and visitors are checked in by name at the desk, as always.
- check Only parents the church has approved as collectors can prepare a pass
- check Tablet stations paired to one room, run from the Chimes mobile app
- check Online only, so no device works from a stale copy of the roster
Related features
Sunday school
Classes with age ranges and teachers, enrollment requests from parents, and dated registers marked present, late, absent or excused.
See the feature arrow_forward
Household and Sunday school
Families see the household the church has on record, ask to enrol a child in a Sunday school class, and follow each child's attendance.
See the feature arrow_forward
People and households
A directory of people and households with family relationships, milestones, ministry groups, membership status, and CSV import and export.
See the feature arrow_forwardSee Chimes with your own congregation in mind.
Tell me how your church keeps its records today and where you would like Chimes hosted. I will come back with a deployment plan and a straight answer on what it will take.