The family portal now includes a dedicated Documents tab where parents can view their child's health documents on file. As a SysAdmin, you have full control over which documents are visible to parents, and for documents like annual physicals that need periodic renewal, you can also allow parents to submit new versions right from the portal, which then come in as requests for your nurse to review.
Why use this feature?
Reduces back-and-forth emails and phone calls about document status
Parents can check what's on file and upload renewals at their convenience
Your team stays in control, parent uploads always go through nurse review before being approved
Configure visibility at the file-tag level, so different document types can have different settings
Works seamlessly with the existing form request review workflow your nurse already uses
Step 1: Enable the right portal settings
Go to Settings → Instance Settings → Portal Configuration
Make sure Enable Child Profiles on Family Portal is turned on — this allows parents to see a profile for each of their students
Make sure Documents Tab on Family Portal is also turned on — this is what reveals the Documents tab to parents
💡 Tip: Both settings need to be enabled for the documents tab to appear. Double-check both if parents report not seeing the tab.
Step 2: Configure visibility for each file tag
Go to Settings → File Tags
Search for the document type you want to configure (e.g. "annual physical")
Click Edit on that file tag
Check "Visible to parents in portal" — this will show the document to parents so they can view and download it
Optionally, also check "Allow parent uploads" — this adds an Upload button for parents so they can submit a new version of that document
Click Confirm
💡 Tip: You can mix and match. For example, show immunization records as view-only, but allow uploads for annual physicals that need yearly renewal.
Step 3: What happens when a parent uploads a document
The parent logs into the portal, navigates to their student's profile, and clicks View More
Under the Documents tab, they'll see the documents you've configured as visible
If uploading is enabled for a document type, they'll see an Upload button and can submit a new file
That file comes in as a form request to your nurse (or whoever is configured to receive them)
The nurse reviews the submission, and if everything looks good, clicks Approve — the new document then appears on the student's card
Best Practices
Review your file tag list and think through which document types make sense for parent visibility before turning this on broadly
Use "view only" for sensitive or school-managed documents, and reserve "allow uploads" for documents families are responsible for renewing
Make sure your nurse has alerts enabled so they're alerted when a new parent upload comes in