Minors and consent/ client portal
Answered
Is there a way to get both parent consent and emails under one minors client portal? Do you always have to make separate client portals for parents when treating a minor just to get consents? Please clarify. I am trying to figure out how to get my teenage clients to sign their own intake forms(which they would need their own client portal for), while also getting both parent consent and sending one parent the scheduling remainder. Is there any way to have parents and minor clients all under one client portal??
-
With telehealth these days...The difficulty with not all minors having an email or some minors are actually responsible for the family/parent email can be tricky here. When there is only one email provided for both parent and minor, from what I can see, there cannot be separate documents shared which creates a conflict in the system. I cannot see how to share consent documents to a parent and have the minor consent as well when there is only one email available for the parent/minor. I would like to see a consent document that has a place for both parent and minor to sign within simple practice and the intake I understand can be handles another way possibly for now. Any thoughts?
-
Hi Dina, all documentation is kept private. Parents cannot see what their children entered on Intake Forms, or even which documents have been sent. We built this feature with client privacy in mind - for example, if you send a minor client a questionnaire regarding substance use, parents will not be able to see that you sent a questionnaire to the client, nor will they be able to see the minor client's response.
-
Hi Bridgett, I'd be happy to help with your question. At this time, each minor client can have one Guardian assigned - if you need to get consents signed for multiple parents, you can create the additional parents as Clients to share paperwork with them. We're actively working on updates that will make family access to the Client Portal easier, and look forward to releasing these enhancements to SimplePractice soon.
Edit 2/26/20: Enhanced Client Management for Minors is now available, making it possible to send Consent Forms to multiple Contacts for a single Client. For more information on how to use Enhanced Client Management for Minors, please check out our Help Center guide here: https://support.simplepractice.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020093651-Enhanced-Client-Management-for-Minors
-
When will an actual minor consent form be added to the portal. I asked previously and was told that a general release of info would suffice; however, that is not what I understand from my law & ethics trainings. I would like to get to the point of not having to send that out separately by email.
Regina
-
Hi Regina, I would be happy to shed some light on this for you. We definitely appreciate suggestions to the platform, but at this time we do not plan to offer a minor consent form. However, you can certainly add a custom consent form to your account to send to clients. Here's how:
1. Go to My Account > Settings > Client Portal > Shared Documents and Files.
2. Under the Consent Documents section click on the +Consent Document button.
3. Next you can enter in the text for the new consent document. If you already have a form your are using outside of SimplePractice I suggest copy and pasting the text to the new consent document. Title the document and click Save when finished.
Additionally, we recommend consulting your local legal or regulatory authority for information on what language to use in this document.
Once you've added the consent document to your account it can be sent electronically to clients through the Client Portal.
-
I have to say that the response Gillian provided describes the goofiest workaround I've ever seen. It's a ridiculous solution. I hope the new functionality has involved stakeholder (clinician) input. We work with so many families where custody is not "intact", so often multiple consents are necessary. Silly not to have this taken into account, and creating "client parents" is just a dumb way of doing it.
-
Hi Tina, no they won't! Any secure messages, or documents sent to one person won't be accessible by the other person, even if they both are attached to, or have Client Portal access to the same client file. If you've enabled Billing Documents to be accessible to multiple Contacts and/or the child client, then they'll see the same billing documents for the client's billed services. Other than that, messages and forms are sent to specific recipients, not to everyone who has Client Portal access for a client file. Hope that clarifies it!
-
Hello,
So to get clarity about this. I have a minor client and a parent. I only have the email address of the parent, not the minor client. Can I send documents to the parent and the client using the parent's email address? Also, can both sign up for portal access using the one email address, while maintaining privacy (meaning will either parent or child see the documents completed by the other)?
-
Hello, this is still problematic as many minors do not have emails and many families for attention to safety, privacy and a range of other reasons, may not have minors with email addresses (particularly younger minors). Is there some way to address getting consent form to minor, getting signature from minor in simple practice without needing an email address?
-
Hi Tim, we agree that that solution was goofy - it's also no longer necessary due to our release of Enhanced Client Management for Minors, and I'll edit my previous post to reflect that more clearly.
Please refer to this Help Center guide on how to add multiple parent Contacts to a single Client and send them separate Consent Forms: https://support.simplepractice.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020093651-Enhanced-Client-Management-for-Minors
These features rolled out in late 2019.
As a reminder, we ask that you communicate with all members of the SimplePractice community with professionalism and respect in mind.
-
Hi Delseta, happy to clarify! Each email address is attached to one person's Client Portal login. If you'd like to send documents to the parent and child separately, then you'll need two different email addresses associated with each. You'll want to go to the client's file > Edit and enter the child's email address in the Client Info tab, checking the Email Ok box. Go to the Client Portal tab and select the child's email to enable Client Portal access. Next, go to the Contacts tab, add the parent as a Contact > Manage > Manage Client Portal & Billing > Enable Client Portal access. Now you can go back to the client's Overview page, hit Share and send documents to parent and child separately. They won't have access to each other's Client Portal documents, or information you sent to the other. If you only have the email address for the parent, then only add the email under the Contact and you'll only be able to send documents, collect form responses and signatures from the parent.
-
Hi Erin, currently, SimplePractice does not support sending a Consent Form with two places for signature. However, that in situations like these you can recommend creating an email address for the client. Creating an email is free and takes just a few minutes, and will enable your minor client to sign Consent Forms, communicate with you securely and privately, and access the Portal.
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
17 comments