Family 1 and Family 2 Designations
From the point of view of the child record, there may be up to two family records (households) to which the child is linked. Family 1 is the custodial family, while Family 2 is the non-custodial family. These families have separate records in the sbFAMILIES file and are linked to the child via the IDFamily1 and IDFamily2 key fields. The way the family record is linked to the child’s record is what distinguishes one family from another.
When related data from a family record is viewed in sbINQUIRIES, that record is seen as either a Family 1 or Family 2 record. From the point of view of a family, this relationship is not apparent, however. Additionally, the same family can be Family 1 to one child and Family 2 to another child in the case of separated or divorced families.
In sbSTUDENTS, there are tabs for Family 1 and Family 2. While the family data can be seen and edited from the sbINQUIRIES and sbSTUDENTS file, sometimes it is desirable to navigate to the actual family record in sbFAMILIES. Click on the View Family button (with the red circle) to navigate to the related family record in sbFAMILIES.
Parent A and Parent B Designations
Each sbFAMILIES record can list two adults—one in the A section and one in the B section of the record. For each adult there are fields for Prefix, First, Middle, Last, Suffix, Relation (relationship to the child), and Ethnicity. These actual fields are Pa_first, Pb_first, Pa_last, Pb_last, etc. and refer to the A and B adults. A and B are not necessarily the father and mother.
Field names relating to the parents as a household, rather than as separate people, generally begin with a P_. This includes address information, home phone and the couple prefix. Examples are Zip (P_zip), Home phone (P_phone_H), and Prefix (P_prefix).
There are special calculation fields called pipelines in sbINQUIRIES that show the related family information based on a relationship. These fields exist to make it easier to find merge fields when creating letters. These fields are prefixed with the relationship type P1 or P2 and then the field name. For example, the sbINQUIRIES field P1a_first shows the data in the Pa_first record of the Family 1 for that child. The P2a_first field shows the data in the Pa_first record of the Family 2 for that child. In the FAMILIES table there is no such thing as P1 or P2.
Pipeline fields in the sbINQUIRIES table will indicate the family type— P1a_relation, Parents1_full, P2_full_ovr, Label_P2, etc. Most fields on the family screens in sbINQUIRIES are the related fields and have blue text to indicate that they are related, meaning that the data can be viewed and edited but that it resides in the sbFAMILIES record. The Relation fields are an exception and are explained in the section below.
Father and Mother Designations
With the possibility of divorced or separated parents, the father or the mother may be in the Family 1 or Family 2 record. A given woman may be the mother of one child and the stepmother of another. There are relation fields in sbINQUIRIES and sbSTUDENTS that make this connection— P1a_relation, P1b_ relation, P2a_relation, P2b_relation. The relationship, therefore, is relevant only from the child’s perspective.
Making a list of the biological father’s name and mother’s name can be difficult if considering only one family record. To handle this, the solution has fields for Father_first, Father_last, Father_full, Mother_first, Mother_last, and Mother_full, as well as Father_phone_H, Mother_phone_H and Father_phone_W, Mother_phone_W. These biological parent name fields are calculations created automatically by the solution, but are available only if the relationship has been entered in the Relation field in the sbINQUIRIES or sbSTUDENTS record.
Home and work phone numbers for mom and dad can also be confusing. If the Relation fields are correctly set in sbINQUIRIES, then the calculated Mother/Father phone fields will be correct whether these two people live together or not. If not, then the phones associated with P1a, P1b, P2a and P2b could be anyone. If users follow the suggestions for data entry detailed in this documentation, the correct phone number will appear with the correct person on standard solution lists.
SANDBOX allows for more flexibility in working with household names, but there can be problems when converting from a database that had specific fields for mother’s name and father’s name. This difficulty can be compounded if the source database had parent data in every sibling record. It is important to review your data and make any necessary adjustments.
Note that it is important to complete the Relation field if you need to track information about the biological mothers and fathers.