Get early access

For family solicitors and barristers

Your client’s record, read-only and in order.

When your client invites you, you read their ParentGlow record directly: messages and handover notes, the shared calendar, expenses, documents and the court-ready exports they’ve made. We check you against the SRA or Bar Standards Board register first. It’s free, and nothing passes between us.

Register interest What the other parent sees ↓
  • Register checked first
  • Read-only
  • No fees, either way

Where it helps

Less screenshot wrangling, more of the actual record.

  1. First instructions

    Instead of a phone full of screenshots, you open the record both parents share: dated messages and handover notes, and a calendar of what was planned and when it changed.

  2. Building the chronology

    Filter messages by date, author, child or category. See each shared cost with its status and the running balance. Download reports on parenting time and schedule changes.

  3. Before a hearing

    Since March 2026, messages usually stay out of the court bundle unless the court directs otherwise (Practice Direction 27A, para 5.2). If they’re needed, what you’ve read is dated and in order. What goes in, and what weight it carries, are for you and the court. See a complete sample court pack from a made-up family.

  4. Your own case details

    Keep your reference, the court case number, who you act for, the stage and the next hearing date against each family. Only you can see them, and they never appear in an export.

What the other parent sees

Open with both homes, by design.

You act for one parent, and one parent’s invitation is enough. But nothing about your access is hidden from the other home.

  • They see you in the family’s list of who can see the record: your name as approved, your firm, “Regulated: on the SRA register”, your reference and the date we checked.
  • They’re sent a phone notification when your client invites you, though one that falls in their quiet hours may not arrive.
  • They can see when you opened each page, not which messages you read or what you searched for.
  • They can’t block your access or end it. Only your client can end it.

That openness is deliberate. A record one parent could share behind the other’s back would help nobody for long, least of all the children.

Your Code, respected

Nothing that sits awkwardly with your professional rules.

  1. No referral arrangement, of any kind

    Nothing of value passes between ParentGlow and any lawyer, in either direction, and nothing depends on how many families use it. We don’t list, rank or recommend lawyers, and we don’t send you clients.

  2. Clearly separate from your service

    ParentGlow isn’t a law firm, isn’t regulated by the SRA or any legal regulator, and doesn’t give legal advice. Your client can see it has nothing to do with your firm.

  3. Confidentiality stays with you

    Information about children proceedings is governed by the Family Procedure Rules (Part 12, Chapter 7). Our draft professional terms ask you to use what you see only for the matter of the client who invited you. For copies you take, you’re a data controller in your own right.

  4. A channel the courts already recognise

    Orders and undertakings have required parents to communicate only through a parenting app (for example, Re B and K [2024] EWFC 167). Whether that suits a particular family is for the family, their advisers and the court.

How access works

From your client’s invitation to the record, in five steps.

  1. A parent invites you

    In the ParentGlow app, the parent adds you by name and work email, chooses what you’ll be able to read and for how long, and sends you the link themselves. We never contact professionals.

  2. You apply, and a person checks

    You open a free professional account and tell us your role, organisation and registration. Someone at ParentGlow checks it; we aim to decide within one working day, Monday to Friday. If a register lookup comes back empty, we ask you for more rather than refuse.

  3. The record opens, read-only

    Once you’re approved, the parent’s link opens their family’s record for exactly what they chose. It only works for an approved account using the email address the parent entered, and it lasts seven days; if it lapses, the parent can send a new one.

  4. Both parents can see you’re there

    You appear in the family’s list of who can see their record, with what we checked. The other parent is also sent a phone notification, though one that falls in their quiet hours may not arrive.

  5. It ends when the parent says so, or on the date

    Only the parent who invited you can end your access early; after that your next request is refused, though a download already started may finish. It also ends if that parent leaves the family, and otherwise on the date they chose: twelve months unless they picked another.

We check solicitors against the SRA’s register and barristers against the Barristers’ Register. Neither body endorses ParentGlow, and a check isn’t a recommendation. If you’re missing from a register for a good reason, such as a record withheld because of a serious risk of harm, we’ll ask you for more rather than refuse.

Inside the portal

What your client chose to share, read-only.

Your client picks what you can see before they send the link. Calendar, shared expenses and their own court-ready exports are always included; documents and messages are included unless they switch them off; health documents only if they switch them on.

You’ll see, read-only

  • Calendar. Handovers, events and their times and places, as both homes see them.
  • Messages. Messages and handover notes, each with the time it was sent. Search and filter by date, author, child, category or attachments; attachments are listed, not opened.
  • Shared expenses. Each cost, its status and the running balance between the homes. You can’t add, agree or settle anything.
  • Documents. Shared documents, if the parent left them in. Health documents only if the parent chose to include them.
  • Court-ready exports. The exports the parent who invited you has made, reports on parenting time and schedule changes, and court packs for the calendar and messages.

You’ll never see

  • A parent’s private journal
  • Either parent’s account or security settings
  • Anything the other parent has exported for themselves
  • Anything at all before you’re approved

Worth knowing

  • Reading a message never marks it as seen for the parents.
  • You see messages and expenses from the date the parent who invited you joined ParentGlow.
  • Your own case details, such as your reference, the court case number, who you act for and the next hearing date, are visible only to you and never exported.

Honest limits

What ParentGlow isn’t.

  • It isn’t a case-management system or a bundle builder. It shows the record; you decide what goes into a bundle.
  • It isn’t legal advice, and it doesn’t replace your advice to your client.
  • It shows what the parents kept, from the date your client joined, and only what your client chose to share. It isn’t certified, and it may not be the whole story.
  • Where a court order limits contact between the parents, what the order allows comes first. Using ParentGlow doesn’t change that.

Questions solicitors ask

Straight answers.

Anything else? A real person answers at hello@parentglow.co.uk.

hello@parentglow.co.uk
Is there a referral fee, commission or any benefit for recommending ParentGlow?

No. Nothing of value passes between ParentGlow and any solicitor or barrister, in either direction, and nothing depends on how many families use it. We do not list, rank or recommend lawyers, and we do not send you clients.

Can the other parent see what I read?

They can see when you opened each page, and each export or report you downloaded, such as Messages at 14:02 on a Tuesday. They cannot see which messages you read or what you searched for, and reading a message never marks it as seen. Opening the Documents area is recorded too; each file link then lasts an hour.

Can my client end my access?

Yes, at any time. After that your next request is refused, though a download already started may finish. The other parent cannot end access they did not give. Files you have already downloaded cannot be recalled.

Can ParentGlow make a court bundle?

No. Under Practice Direction 27A, as it has applied since 2 March 2026, messages and similar material stay out of the court bundle unless the court directs otherwise. ParentGlow gives you a dated, organised record to work from. What goes into a bundle is your judgement, and what weight anything carries is for the court.

Can barristers use the portal?

Yes, when the register opens. We check barristers against the Bar Standards Board’s Barristers’ Register, which lists barristers authorised to practise, and a parent invites you in the same way as a solicitor.

What about my own data-protection duties?

For the copies you take and the notes you make, you are a data controller in your own right, with your own lawful basis and duties. We are the controller for the family’s record and for the log of your access.

Can I see messages from before my client joined ParentGlow?

No. You see messages and expenses from the date the parent who invited you joined, and only the parts of the record they chose to share with you.

Can the family see my case reference?

No. Your reference, the court case number, who you act for, the stage and the next hearing date are visible only to you, and they never appear in an export.

General information for England and Wales, checked against the app on 28 September 2026. It isn’t legal advice. Read more about how professional access works for every role, or what parents are told about messages and the family court.

For other professionals

The same rules, written for each role.

Family mediators

Something you can mention to both participants on the same terms, that helps agreements keep working.

Read more

Child contact centres

Calmer handovers before and after contact, without asking your centre to do anything new.

Read more

McKenzie Friends

Organised, dated records for the parent you support, and the court’s confidentiality rules in plain English.

Read more

How access works

What we check, what parents see, and what’s built today, for every role.

Read more

The professional register opens soon

Hear first when it opens.

The professional portal is built. The register, which checks every professional before they can read anything, opens soon. There’s no date yet, and we won’t guess one.

What brings you here? (change it if this isn't you)

One email to confirm your address, then the odd update, including when the register opens and you can apply. Unsubscribe any time. Free for professionals. How we use your details.