# Search for docs that are parents

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-for-docs-that-are-parents/259684>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [December 27, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-for-docs-that-are-parents/259684 "2020-12-27T13:03:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Luca\_Frost](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/luca_frost/32/70254_2.png) [@Luca\_Frost](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Luca_Frost)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-for-docs-that-are-parents/259684/1 "2020-12-27T13:03:19Z")

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Hi There,

I'm looking for a way to search for documents where the join field specifies that they are a parent, that way I can still search for parents without children?

Here's my _very_ crude attempt which fails...

```
POST /families/_search
{
  "query": {
    "term": {
    "family": { # this is the join field
      "name": "father"
    }
  }
}
}

```

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

---

<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 24, 2021, 1:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/search-for-docs-that-are-parents/259684/2 "2021-01-24T13:03:22Z")

</div>

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