# Problem indexing parent+child in 6.0.1

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/problem-indexing-parent-child-in-6-0-1/112027>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [December 15, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/problem-indexing-parent-child-in-6-0-1/112027 "2017-12-15T17:39:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scherbone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@scherbone](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/scherbone)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/problem-indexing-parent-child-in-6-0-1/112027/1 "2017-12-15T17:39:44Z")

</div>

In Elasticsearch (ES) 5.6.4, I was able to index a new parent document along with multiple child documents within a bulk (new children related to new parent). I can no longer do this in 6.0.1. I get the error:

> can't specify parent if no parent field has been configured

Here is the relevant part of the (now single) type mapping:

```
"join_role": {
	"type":"join",
	"relations":{
		"user":["msg","pending_contact","member_contact","non_member_contact"]
	}
}

```

I then index the parent with:

`"join_role": "user"`

and the children with:

```
"join_role": {
      "name": "msg",
      "parent": "<parent_id>"
}

```

I want to make sure other people are experiencing this before I file a bug report. Thanks in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/problem-indexing-parent-child-in-6-0-1/112027/2 "2018-01-12T17:40:02Z")

</div>

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