Feature tour · Add-on
Child Check-in
Safe drop-offs, calm pickups.
Check children in with a scan, a search or a tap. Print a name label and a pickup tag, see allergies at a glance, confirm who may take each child home, and page a parent in seconds. Every check-in and check-out is recorded.
- Staffed kiosk
- Self-service stations
- Barcode & QR
- Name labels
- Pickup tags
- Allergy alerts
- Authorized pickup
- Parent paging
- Live board
- Mobile app
01Check in
Check in
Scan a family card, search by name or the last digits of a phone number, or add a visiting family on the spot.
02Print
A name label goes on the child with allergies boxed in bold. The parent keeps a pickup tag.
03Pick up
Pick up
Choose who is picking up, get a warning if they are not on the list, and the check-out is recorded.
Check-in
A line that moves before service starts.
Open the check-in kiosk on any computer or tablet at your welcome desk. Volunteers check children in with whatever is fastest for that family.
- Kiosk mode
- The kiosk locks the browser to check-in, so the rest of your church's data stays out of reach at the desk.
- Returning families
- Search by name or the last few digits of a parent's phone, or tap one of the most recent children.
- Straight from the directory
- Check in any child in your directory. Their parents are added as guardians who can pick up.
- Visiting families
- Add a visiting child and their guardians at the desk, and mark who may pick them up.
- One scan, in or out
- Scan a family card or pickup tag with a USB barcode scanner. It checks in or out based on where the child is.
- Live on every screen
- Run several check-in desks at once. Every screen shows who is checked in, as it happens.
Self-service stations
Let families check themselves in.
Set a tablet at the door and families check their own children in, while your volunteers greet people instead of typing.
- Pair a tablet in seconds
- Create a station in your settings and pair any tablet with a short code. No one has to sign in on it.
- Scan, type or tap
- Families scan a card or the code in their app, or enter their phone number. You choose which ways each station allows.
- "I'm new here"
- Visiting families can register themselves and their children right at the station.
- Labels print themselves
- Choose which labels each station prints, print them automatically, and require a printer before check-in.
- Privacy reset
- The screen clears itself after a short idle time, so the next family never sees the last one.
- Locked settings
- A PIN keeps printer and label options from being changed, and you can open or close a station anytime.
Labels
The right details, stuck right on.
Three labels cover the whole morning, printed right at the check-in desk.
- Child label
- The child's name, age and check-in time, any allergies or needs boxed in bold, and up to two guardians who may pick up, with their phone numbers.
- Pickup tag
- The parent keeps this one. It carries the child's name and a QR code to scan at check-out.
- Family card
- A reusable card with a QR code for faster check-in on the next visit.
- Codes that expire
- Every QR code is signed so it can't be forged, and pickup codes stop working after 24 hours.
Pickup
Every child goes home with the right grown-up.
Each child has a list of guardians, and each guardian is marked as allowed to pick up or not. Check-out checks that list every time.
- Authorized pickup
- Mark which guardians may pick each child up, with a primary contact at the top of the list.
- Warnings, not guesses
- Choose someone who is not on the list and the kiosk warns you. Any override is written into the record.
- Scan the tag to leave
- Scan the parent's pickup tag and the child is checked out to them.
- A record of every visit
- Who checked each child in, who checked them out, who picked them up, and when, kept for every visit.
- The code on their phone
- Parents can pull up each child's check-in code and current status in the Lightpost app.
- Station rules
- Decide whether families can check out at a station, and whether that takes the pickup tag or an authorized guardian's phone number.
Allergies & needs
Know before snack time.
Allergies and special needs travel with every check-in: flagged on the live board, highlighted on the child's details, and printed in bold on their label.
- Update allergies or needs during a visit, and the child's profile updates too
- Add notes and incident notes to a visit as they happen
- Each visit keeps the details as they were that day
Parent paging
Reach a parent in the middle of the sermon.
No more numbers on a screen at the front of the auditorium. Page a guardian quietly by text message or a push notification in the Lightpost app.
- Send the standard "please come to the check-in area" page, or write your own
- Texts come from a dedicated paging number, and STOP opt-outs are honored
- See whether the text was delivered, and keep every page on the visit
Mobile app
Parents carry the code, volunteers carry the desk.
The free Lightpost app works for both sides of the welcome desk.
- Parents show each child's code to check in
- Parents see who checked their child in, and when
- Parents get pages as push notifications
- Volunteers check children in and out from a phone
- Volunteers scan codes and print labels
- Volunteers page a parent or add a note
What you need
Simple gear, probably already in a closet.
There is no special software to install at the desk. Check-in runs in the browser.
A computer or tablet
Any device with a modern web browser runs the check-in kiosk.
A label printer
A DYMO label printer, or a printer connected through Lightpost Print.
A barcode scanner
Optional. A USB scanner makes family cards and pickup tags one-scan fast.
A tablet for a station
Optional. For families to check themselves in at a self-service station.
Questions
Common questions about child check-in.
Don't see yours? Ask us, or read the documentation.
Child check-in is an add-on you can turn on for your church. The pricing page lists the current monthly price.
A computer or tablet with a web browser and a label printer: a DYMO label printer, or a printer connected through Lightpost Print. A USB barcode scanner is optional and speeds up returning families.
Each child has guardians, and each guardian is marked as allowed to pick up or not. At check-out you choose who is picking up, and the kiosk warns you if they are not on the list. Parents can also scan their pickup tag.
Yes. Add a visiting child and their guardians right at the desk. Next time, find them by name or by the last digits of a guardian's phone number.
Yes, at a self-service station. Families scan a card or the code in their app, or enter their phone number, and their labels print automatically.
From the check-in screen, send a page by text message to the guardian's phone, or as a push notification if they use the Lightpost app. Text messages are usage priced.
No. Families can be found by name or phone number, or check in with a printed family card. The app adds a code on their phone and lets them see when their child was checked in.
An add-on for any plan
Give every family peace of mind.
Child check-in works with your directory, so member families are ready on day one. Add it to any Lightpost plan.