Create guardian–minor contacts from a Patch waiver

When this is set up, Patch uses the same guardian–minor relationship as integrations. That unlocks the guardian’s Minors tab, birthday automations for kids (messages go to the adult), and clearer household data.

Before you start

• You need the Waivers product on the account.
• There is no separate Settings toggle. Creating minor contacts happens when a repeating page uses Minors (creates link to guardian).
• Don’t use a custom field named something like minors or minor_array. Use the reserved Minors (creates link to guardian) field.
• Email, phone, and SMS/email opt-in stay on the guardian. Don’t put those on the minor rows.

What this does not do: When a guardian later checks in on a kiosk by phone, Patch does not automatically assume every linked minor attended. Minors should still be confirmed or checked in deliberately.

Overview

Step 1: Add a repeating Minors page

1. Open Waivers and edit the waiver.
2. Stay on Document (not Settings).
3. Create or select the page where guests enter each child’s details (often after the adult’s name/contact page).
4. Open Multiple Pages.
5. Check Enable multiple pages.
6. Optional but recommended:
   • Automatically add the first page at start
   • ‘Add’ button text like Add Minor
   • ‘Remove’ button text like Remove Minor
7. Under Field to Use, choose Minors (creates link to guardian).

If you pick any other multiple-object field, Patch won’t create minor Contacts (the PDF can still work). Save will also fail validation if the page isn’t set up correctly.

Step 2: Bind the minor fields

On that same repeating page, add Field elements and bind them only to:

With Field to Use set to Minors, the field picker should only offer this short list. Keep the guardian’s name, email, phone, and signature on a non-repeating page.

Step 3: Collect the guardian as usual

On another page, collect enough adult info to create or match the signing contact — typically first/last name plus email and/or phone, plus signature and legal text.

The adult remains the source of marketing consent. Messages about kids go to the guardian’s opted-in channels.

Step 4: Save and test

1. Save the waiver. If the Minors page is missing required fields or has disallowed fields, save should block with an error.
2. Open the signing / SmartLink URL (or your usual Installation / kiosk path).
3. Sign as a test adult, add 1–2 minors with name + birthday, and submit.
4. Open the guardian contact and confirm:
   • The Minors tab lists each child
   • Each minor is a separate contact with the correct birthday
5. Sign again with the same minor name + birthday. Patch should update that minor Contact, not create a duplicate.

What happens on submit

The minors list on the form is used while signing (and to pre-fill for returning guardians). It is not stored as an array on the adult contact — the roster is the minor Contacts themselves.

Using this in automations

Common pattern: birthday automation for kids, message to the adult.

1. Audience / filter on the minor (birthday upcoming, has a guardian).
2. Send SMS or email using the guardian’s opted-in phone or email.
3. Copy can address the adult (“It’s almost Ava’s birthday…”) while the trigger is the child’s birthday.

If you only collected names/DOBs as loose custom fields on the adult and never used Minors (creates link to guardian), birthday automations won’t behave like true guardian–minor contacts. Rebuild the waiver with that Field to Use.

Troubleshooting

Checklist

• Repeating page with Field to Use = Minors (creates link to guardian)
• First Name, Last Name, Birthday on that page (Gender optional)
• Guardian name + contact channels on a separate page
• Test sign creates Minors on the adult contact
• Re-sign with same name + DOB updates the same minor