Confusion over Contacts and Profiles

Question

I am sure I am just confused about profiles and was hoping someone could clarify a few things for me. We run a non-profit that assists foster children in our community. I am attempting to set up profiles for:

Foster Parent: First name Last name etc

Foster Child: First name Last name etc.

These should be 2 different contacts with a relationship between the 2.

I thought I did it correctly, however, I am now setting up an event where the foster parent would register the child. I am using both profiles on the form but the form (and added contact) use the first and last name of the foster parent and list it as the same name as the child. It's as if both profiles are combining to make one person when they should be separate. What am I doing incorrectly?

Answer 1

The design of profiles is that they will only collect information about a one contact. (Even when you use multiple profiles, everything is updated on one contact)

Your question about how to collect information about multiple contacts at once has already been answered at: How to allow parents to register children but still record their own info

Answer 2

I assume you are using Wordpress or Joomla and so need to use profiles? If you are using Drupal I would recommend you use the Webform CiviCRM module to build the required forms.

Answer 3

I am using Joomla. While working with it, I figured out the custom fields portion of it to capture the information from the parent. I had hoped to capture both profiles as separate contacts as there will likely be future registrations from the same people. I just wasn't sure if I was properly grasping "profiles". I can work with the custom fields as a work around. Thank You for the answers and guidance.