---
sourceDocument: Brazil IT Service Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/it-service-management

 Release :

    - brazil

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Brazil IT Service Management

ft:clusterId :

    - itsm

bundleId :

    - itsm

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# Synchronizing parent and child incidents

# Synchronizing parent and child incidents {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Brazil  
Updated September 10, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
The state of a child incident follows the state of its parent incident for most incident states, which keeps related incidents aligned without manual updates.  
{#parent-child-state-sync__table_iqz_kmm_qbb__entry__4}

| Parent state | On hold reason (parent) | Child state | On hold reason (child) |
|-|-|-|-|
| In Progress | N/A | In Progress | N/A |
| On Hold | Awaiting Change, Awaiting Problem, or Awaiting Vendor | Same as parent | Same as parent |
| On Hold | Awaiting Caller | Not updated | Not updated |
| Resolved | N/A | Resolved. The Activity log in the child incident form is updated with the resolution notes copied from the parent incident. | N/A |
| Closed | N/A | Not closed. Child incidents must be closed by the caller or by the system based on the auto-closure property. | N/A |
| Canceled | N/A | N/A | N/A |
[Table 1. Parent-child state synchronization]

{#parent-child-state-sync__table_iqz_kmm_qbb}  
Note:  
This table applies only to standard incident life cycle states. When a parent incident is proposed or accepted as a major incident, the states of any associated child incidents do not change automatically. For more information,
see [Managing major incidents](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/VxnJ5SVXfcM_CrlEeGGYRA "A major incident (MI) significantly disrupts the business and requires a response beyond the routine incident management process. Major incidents follow a separate procedure with shorter timescales and higher priority to speed up resolution for incidents with high business impact.").  
When an incident has a child incident, the following actions take place:

* If an ITIL user reopens the parent incident, both the parent and child incidents reopen. Both the parent and the child incident state is set to In Progress.
* If an employee self-service (ESS) user reopens the parent incident, the parent incident state is set to In Progress but the child incident is not reopened.
{#parent-child-state-sync__ul_ydh_ztn_2gb}