Should we create relationships between a child and both parents or just between a child and the primary parent?

Sam Slate

Hi all,


We've come across a best practices question within our organization and are interested in how others approach the question. We are currently using individual accounts for members in a family and connecting them with relationships.


Our question: Should we create relationships between a child and both parents or just between a child and the primary parent?


Pros of connecting a child to both parents:

• If one parent is removed from the database for whatever reason, we don’t automatically lose the family relationships.
• Easier to run queries such as “all parents.”

Pros of connecting a child to the primary parent:

• Avoid the risks of duplicate information.
• Easier for data entry. 

How are other people going about child/parent relationships? Are there issues we should worry about that I haven't listed here? 


Thank you in advance!