How do I collect a parent or guardian signature on a form?

Overview

A digital consent on a form records a name alongside the signature. Normally that is the name on the profile filling the form in, which is exactly right when the user signs for themselves.

It is wrong when somebody else signs. On an application filled in by a minor, a consent meant for a parent or guardian would carry the child's name. You can now mark a consent as signed by another party, so the person signing types their own printed name and, if you want it, states how they are related to the user.

This article is for administrators who build forms.

Nothing changes until you ask for it: every digital consent starts on the default setting, so the consents you already use keep behaving exactly as they do today.

1. What does "Who signs this consent?" do?

It decides whose name is printed next to the signature.

The user filling out the form. The default. The imprint carries the name on the profile, and the signer is not asked to type anything.
Someone else, for example a parent or guardian. The signer types their own printed name, and they cannot save the signature until they do.

2. How do I set a consent up to be signed by a parent or guardian?

On the consent itself, not on the form as a whole, so one form can mix both kinds.

Add a Digital Consent to your form, or edit one you already use.
Fill in the title and description as you normally would. This is the text the signer is agreeing to.
Under Who signs this consent?, choose Someone else, for example a parent or guardian.
Optionally fill in Signer label (optional), for example Parent / Guardian. Whatever you type here is the wording the signer sees, so it is worth setting.
Save.

If you leave the signer label blank the consent still works. The form simply says "Signed by someone else" instead of naming a role.

3. What does the person filling out the form see?

A label beside the consent title telling them who is expected to sign, carrying your signer label.

When they tick the consent box, the signing area opens with:

A short line of guidance, for example "Type the name of the Parent or Guardian, then sign below."
A Printed name of the Parent or Guardian field
The signature pad

Save stays unavailable until the printed name is filled in, so a consent cannot be signed anonymously by mistake.

4. Can I also record how the signer is related to the user?

Yes, and it is your choice. Tick Also ask how the signer is related to the user when you set the consent up. It only appears once you have chosen that somebody else signs.

The signer then picks one of:

Mother
Father
Legal guardian
Other

Choosing Other opens a short free text box. That covers a grandparent, a foster carer, or a signer who is not a family member at all, such as a teacher or a coach.

Leave the tick box off and the signer is asked for a name only, which is all most organizations need.

5. Where does the typed name show up afterwards?

Everywhere the consent is presented as a record:

The Digital consent imprint preview on the form, which fills in as the signer types
View consent, when you open a submitted consent from a profile
The downloaded consent receipt PDF
The form submission export PDF

The relationship, where you collect one, appears alongside the name in the same places. Consents signed before you changed the setting keep showing the profile name, so old records are not rewritten.

6. Can I collect the applicant's signature and a parent's signature on the same form?

Yes, and that is the setup this was built for.

Add two digital consents to the form. Leave the first on The user filling out the form so the applicant signs for themselves, and set the second to Someone else, for example a parent or guardian. Each one gets its own title, its own wording and its own signature, and the imprints carry two different names.

Worth naming them clearly: titles like "Signature of the applicant" and "Signature of the parent or guardian" save a lot of confusion when two consents sit one above the other on the same form.

7. Does this work in the mobile app?

Yes. A consent set up this way asks for the printed name, and the relationship where you collect one, in the app exactly as it does on the web. You do not need to build a separate form for people who apply from their phone.

8. What happens to the consents I already use?

Nothing. Every existing digital consent sits on The user filling out the form, which is how consents behaved before this setting existed.

Changing the setting affects consents signed from that point on. It does not alter signatures already collected.

Summary

A digital consent can be marked as signed by somebody other than the user filling out the form.
The signer then types their own printed name, and cannot save the signature without it.
A signer label such as Parent / Guardian tells them who is expected to sign.
You can optionally ask how the signer is related to the user: Mother, Father, Legal guardian, or Other with a free text box.
The typed name and the relationship appear on the imprint, in View consent, on the consent receipt PDF and on the submission export.
For a minor's application, use two consents on one form: one signed by the applicant, one signed by the parent or guardian.
Existing consents are untouched and keep using the profile name.

Parent or guardian signatures on a digital consent