Family Relationships
Manaaki Central groups people into whānau groups so you can see who belongs together and move between their records. A whānau group is a membership list rather than a family tree — it does not currently record how people are related to one another (parent, sibling, and so on), only who is in the group and two role flags described below.
Viewing a whānau group
The Whānau tab on a Service User's details page lists everyone linked to their whānau group:
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| Name | Linked to that person's own Service User record, if they are one (see below) |
| Phone / Email | Masked by default, click to reveal |
| Role | A Primary badge if this person is the primary contact for the group |
| Actions | New Referral, Remove, Edit |
Click View Family Page to open the whānau group on its own page, outside the context of any one member.
Primary contact and service user
Two flags describe a member's role in the group:
- Primary contact — marks the main point of contact for the whānau group.
- Service user — whether this person is themself receiving services, with their own Service User record and Referral history. Members who are not service users appear in the list as plain text (not a link), since they don't have a details page of their own yet.
A third toggle, Keep in sync with Support Contacts, is available for non-service-user members — turning it on also lists that person in the Service User's Support Contacts.
Adding a member
Click Add Member on the Whānau tab. You can either:
- Find Existing Person — search by name, then set whether they're a service user and whether to sync them to Support Contacts, or
- Create New Person — enter first name and last name (required), plus date of birth, gender, phone, and email, with the same two role toggles
Creating a new person shows a warning if a similarly-named person already exists, so you can use Find Existing Person instead if it's a match.
Starting a referral for a member
Click the New Referral icon next to a member to start a Referral for them.
If the member isn't marked as a service user yet, you'll see a prompt — "Register as service user?" — before you can continue. Confirming marks them as a service user and takes you straight into the Referral wizard with them pre-selected.
Removing a member
Click the Remove icon and confirm. This unlinks the person from the whānau group — their own record is not deleted, and they can be added back later.
Editing a member
Click the Edit icon to change the Primary contact and Keep in sync with Support Contacts flags for that member.