If your center serves families with Texas Workforce Commission (subsidy) funding and reports attendance through the KinderConnect integration, the state now requires proof that a real adult was present for every check-in, check-out, and absence. That proof is a photo, a signature, and the device's location. LineLeader captures all three right at your check-in kiosk and from the parent's mobile device and sends them automatically with your nightly attendance submission.
Who this is for
This applies only to Texas centers connected to the KinderConnect integration. If your center doesn't submit attendance to the state of Texas through KinderConnect, none of this applies to you, and you don't need to turn anything on.
Note: For simplicity, all parents are asked to provide an electronic signature when this feature set is enabled, and geo-location data at the time of check-in/out is automatically collected in the background. However, because face pics are a little more burdensome, only parents of subsidized children are asked for a photo at check-in and check-out. The subsidy has to be currently active — if it hasn't started yet or has already ended, that child's parent won't be prompted to take a selfie.
What families see at check-in
The kiosk or cell phone walks through these screens, in order. Which ones appear depends on what your center has turned on:
PIN code entry → Select children → Photo (if enabled) → Signature (if enabled) → Confirmation
Location is captured quietly in the background — there's no extra screen for it. If it's required and the device can't get a location, the parent will be asked to fix their device's app permissions or try again before they can finish checking in.
One photo and one signature cover every child for that check-in/out. If a parent is picking up three siblings at once, they only take one photo and sign once.
Note: Photos and signatures are stored only for the state submission. They never show up in the parent-facing moment timeline or are shared with anyone other than KinderSystems, so families and teachers will never see the photos.
Absences count too
Texas treats a logged absence the same as a check-in or check-out, so absences need a photo, signature, and location from the parent as well. If your center has this turned on, families will be walked through that same capture when they report an absence in the app.
Note: If a child is marked absent but also has attendance for that day, LineLeader will report the absence, not the attendance. If a child ends up attending after being marked absent, remove the absence from their profile so the record is accurate.
Turning this on
Order matters. These steps build on each other, so work through them in order:
Confirm your KinderConnect integration is set up. Your Implementation contact will confirm your providers are listed, your Group Password is correct, and your state is set on your organization's profile.
Ask your LineLeader contact to enable native check-in. This is a behind-the-scenes rollout step we control. Until it's on, your kiosk stays on the older experience and none of the capture features are available.
Turn on the three capture settings in Org Settings. Switch on "Require photo capture at check-in/out," "Capture geolocation at check-in/out," and "Require digital signature at check-in/out." All three are required for Texas compliance.
Turn off web check-in/out. Staff checking children in from a computer can't capture a photo or location, so this needs to be switched off for compliant Texas centers. Families check in from the kiosk or the mobile app instead.
Note: This toggle is visible to org admins, but only a LineLeader super-admin can actually change it. If it looks greyed out, that's why — reach out to support to get it flipped.
Turn on the absence workflow. This adds the required capture steps to reporting an absence and ships off by default, so it's an easy one to miss. Ask your LineLeader contact to enable it for your org.
Check the next morning that submissions went through. Attendance is submitted to the state overnight, so give it a day. You can review the previous day's results under Reports > KinderConnect Reconciliation. You can also use the same report to identify any subsidized children that Manage couldn't find due to name spelling variations. Simply enter the KinderConnect ID from the report to the correct child's Profile, and their data will be submitted to KinderConnect from that day forward. Unmatched children don't have attendance and absence data reported for them, and this report is the only notice for that fact.
Tip: Don't consider a new setup finished on the same day you turn it on — you won't see a real submission until the next morning's reconciliation report.
Frequently asked questions
A parent says the camera never opened. Make sure photo capture is turned on for your center and confirm that your center isn't using phone number + PIN check-in (that method doesn't support capture). Also double check the Engage app's camera permissions on the device itself.
Why did QR code check-in turn off on its own? Turning on photo, signature, or location capture automatically disables QR code check-in, since QR check-in can't collect that information.
Staff can no longer check kids in from the web. That's expected for Texas centers on this integration — the state requires proof of an adult present, which the web screens can't provide. Attendance is recorded from the kiosk or mobile app instead.
Can we see a check-in photo or signature ourselves? No — photos and signatures are stored only for submission to the state and aren't visible in LineLeader, even to your admins.
A child's attendance isn't shown for a given date but they were definitely there. This is usually due to a missing check-out. If a child is checked in but never checked out, that day is left out of the submission. Ask the parent to open Engage's Attendance tab to add the missing check-out, and it will be resubmitted. They have six calendar days to edit attendance/absence records, per TWC regulations.
Do private-pay families need to take a photo? No. Only families with subsidized children are asked. If a private-pay parent is being prompted for a photo, reach out to support.
Do we need to add photos to old attendance records? No. The requirement only applies to records from September 1, 2026 onward — there's no need to go back and update anything before that.
Can a parent check in from home or the parking lot? Location is recorded and reviewed by the state as part of its fraud checks. Occasional off-site check-ins aren't automatically blocked, but a consistent pattern may get flagged for review.
A parent doesn't have a smartphone — what then? That's fine. Your center's own kiosk tablet allows them to record check-in and check-out with the required photo, e-signature and geo-location capture.
Can we turn this on for centers in other states? We'd recommend against it. Other states using the same integration (Arizona, Missouri, Virginia, Louisiana, New York) don't currently have this requirement, so turning on capture there just adds an extra step at check-in with no benefit.
If you run into anything that doesn't match what's described here, or a submission looks incomplete, don't hesitate to reach out to support — we're happy to help track it down.