HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Hi, so here's the story:

A family (members who are not in our ward) came to our area for vacation and it so happens the child wanted to get baptized in our ward. I have attempted to record the child baptism record in our ward's MLS as "child baptism" but it requires that the child's records be present in our unit. I also tried recording it as "out of unit member", but that did not work too.
Would I have to send the child's baptism record papers to his/her current ward for the baptism to be recorded?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, the baptism papers need to be recorded in the ward where the family is living. Who interviewed the child for baptism?

It was the bishop presiding over my ward

How did you fill out the Baptizm recommend form if the record was not in your ward.

Anyway, you could move the record to your ward, record the baptizm and then move the record back to the ward where the family resides.

HB 1: 16.1.3 puts the responsibility on the clerk where the member's record resides. While requesting/updating/returning could work, I think it's a bad idea. It could disrupt class rolls, and in the case of older adults, callings. I think a better plan is to send the info to the other ward.

So the proper thing to do would be to mail the filled out baptism recommend to the ward where the records are located.

May we assume that the child was also confirmed in the same ward that the baptism was performed? I can't remember if the confirmation is recorded on the same form.

I agree with the previous questions.
- You must have an interview before the baptism.
- You must have the form before the interview.
- You must have the membership record (for a child of record) before you can create the form.

drepouille wrote:May we assume that the child was also confirmed in the same ward that the baptism was performed? I can't remember if the confirmation is recorded on the same form.

The conformation is recorded on the same form.

drepouille wrote: - You must have an interview before the baptism.

The handbook says the person can be interviewed by the Bishop or assigned counselor. It does not distinguish if the Bishop in the Bishop where the records are located. But I have to assume that the Bishops conferred with each other.

drepouille wrote:- You must have the form before the interview.
- You must have the membership record (for a child of record) before you can create the form.

I think you can print off the blank form from MLS, on the other hand they may have had some of the old forms laying around.

drepouille wrote:May we assume that the child was also confirmed in the same ward that the baptism was performed? I can't remember if the confirmation is recorded on the same form.

Yes, it is.

drepouille wrote:I agree with the previous questions.
- You must have an interview before the baptism.
- You must have the form before the interview.
- You must have the membership record (for a child of record) before you can create the form.

Certainly there is no requirement in MLS that you have to have the record to print the form. You can easily print an empty form and fill it in manually or manually enter the information before printing the form. I can't find anything in the Handbook that requires that child be interviewed by the bishop where the record resides. The only thing I can find is the section already referenced that indicates the clerk where the record resides is responsible for recording the baptism. So I agree that the form should be sent to the ward where the record is.

However, it would probably be best for the clerk and bishop where the baptism was performed (and where the interview was performed) to print and sign the baptism certificate. Since the baptism was performed under the authority of that bishop he should probably sign it (although I don't know of any policy that requires that). You can print a certificate without actually recording the ordinance by using the Membership > Ordinances > Certificates menu option.

Does the form require the name, birthdate, and MRN of those performing the baptism and confirmation, as the ordination forms do? If, so then those fields must be completed before the form is mailed to the unit that holds the membership record.

We have some units in my stake that pre-print a stack of blank forms, and the bishopric grabs a blank form during the interview. I prefer that the bishopric ask the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview.

This has been a problem with members of our Ward having their children baptized in Utah.
Our bishop interviews the child. And then we give the paper work or copy of said paper work and have the parents give us the paperwork on their return. And the the information is intered into MLS.

It works very well.

Absolutely. We should handle these baptisms (and blessings) the same way we handle ordinations. We frequently have elders want to have their fathers ordain them high priests in another state, where the father lives. We complete the form here, and give it to the brother. We ask him to have the ordination witnessed by a stake representative, who signs the form for our records.

drepouille wrote:Does the form require the name, birthdate, and MRN of those performing the baptism and confirmation, as the ordination forms do? If, so then those fields must be completed before the form is mailed to the unit that holds the membership record.

We have some units in my stake that pre-print a stack of blank forms, and the bishopric grabs a blank form during the interview. I prefer that the bishopric ask the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview.

If the clerks in those units print a stack of blank forms from MLS ready for use at any time, isn't that the same thing as asking the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview? I have a stack of blank forms for each ordinance always ready to go (baby blessings, priesthood ordinations, baptism, etc). I'm sure the bishop would love to have a clerk glued to his hip, but when a clerk isn't available, then a stack of blank forms works pretty well.

jasonfitt wrote:If the clerks in those units print a stack of blank forms from MLS ready for use at any time, isn't that the same thing as asking the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview?

Not really. Printing from MLS fills in a lot of the information reliably and readably. When you fill out a form by hand, there's much more room for error, both in the writing and the reading.

I'll certainly agree that a blank form is better than nothing if no one is available that can use MLS, but a form filled out in MLS is significantly better than a blank form.

jasonfitt wrote:I'm sure the bishop would love to have a clerk glued to his hip, but when a clerk isn't available, then a stack of blank forms works pretty well.

We try and be proactive and print the form before hand for the bishop. The Exec Sec knows when the interview is so usually he prints the form and puts it with the bishops interview schedule. This is what we call administrating so the bishop can minister.

If for some reason the form does not get printed before hand, or maybe during an interview with a youth he decides to give them a Patriarchal Blessing Recommend, then the bishop will go into MLS and print it himself if no one else is around to do it for him.

One of our newer bishops is an HVAC guy, not a computer guy. So he likes to use blank forms. The funny thing is that when he filled out the MP ordination form for his own son, he got the birthdate wrong. (He used the current year instead of the birth year.)

So that is my vote for printing the filled-in form from MLS instead of using blank forms.

drepouille wrote:The funny thing is that when he filled out the MP ordination form for his own son, he got the birthdate wrong. (He used the current year instead of the birth year.)

I had to put my kids birthdays in my organizer so I had a place to look them up. I tell people who ask for my kids birthday that they are asking an unfair question, dads are not suppose to know those things.

Gary_Miller wrote:

drepouille wrote:The funny thing is that when he filled out the MP ordination form for his own son, he got the birthdate wrong. (He used the current year instead of the birth year.)

I had to put my kids birthdays in my organizer so I had a place to look them up. I tell people who ask for my kids birthday that they are asking an unfair question, dads are not suppose to know those things.

I know the first three and the last two, but the other ones in the middle are lost. So I always look on my list when I need to know for sure, as in helping leaders fill out forms, or for other person needs.

But I agree. If MLS prints it, it usually gets it right.

I am still learning. Have done 2 remote here with no forms. The baby was done here and I simply pretended like I was entering it in MLS here on another person to get the screen up to see what MLS required and then I looked up and phoned the ward clerks office for there using their scheduled meeting time to figure when he would be in the office. He then entered it right straight into MLS while I was on the phone. The other was my bishop's nephew from here was baptized along with a cousin while in UT. So in that case I got all the information straight from my bishop so it really didn't matter.

Does it need to be on paper or is talking to leadership in the appropriate ward enough?

jirp wrote:Does it need to be on paper or is talking to leadership in the appropriate ward enough?

It should be on paper and that paper should be generated by the members unit and presented to the ward bishop in the ward where the baptism is to take place. This shows that the individual has been interviewed and approved by their Bishop. Blessing are a little bit different but the paper work is still needed.

The paper then should be signed by the Bishop where the Baptism took place and hand carried back by the member or their parents back to their unit to be recorded on the records and a certificate printed.

I'm always pushing the Bishopric for the proper paper work. Without the paper work filled out and signed the ordinance, sustaining, or setting apart did not happen.

The lord house is a house of order.