We have to mail in child blessing records?

We had a baby blessing in the ward, and I entered the information into MLS after the family filled out the form I had printed.

MLS then told me I need to mail in the record, and that the system will save it for 30 days, but after that, it will be deleted.

Is that correct? Did I do something weird?

Are the parents in the ward? I'm guessing they're not.

Parents who bless their child in another ward has always been a problem for clerks.

I know that some clerks have been confused about this, but really it's quite simple.

The blessing is recorded in the ward where the blessing took place. If the parents aren't members of the ward, then the clerk includes information about the parents, and the ward where they live. Then the record will be created in that ward, not the ward where the blessing took place.

I've never heard of MLS displaying any message about having to mail anything in; I know of many cases where the above procedure worked just fine, with no extra steps required.

I just got the same message. The child and parent are in the ward, so it's not going anywhere else. The message said that the form had to be mailed or faxed to Church Headquarters to become official. I've been looking for the address or fax number. The message implied that the record was not official until Church Headquarters had done whatever it is they do with it. The child hasn't shown up on the membership list yet, so it apparently needs more than just entering the information and saving it.

By any chance, did you fill in the information in such as way that MLS thought the parents are not in the ward (by filling in information instead of linking to the parent record, or not linking to the household)? The instruction to send it in is understandable if MLS thinks the parents are not in the ward.

russellhltn wrote:By any chance, did you fill in the information in such as way that MLS thought the parents are not in the ward (by filling in information instead of linking to the parent record, or not linking to the household)? The instruction to send it in is understandable if MLS thinks the parents are not in the ward.

It isn't really understandable even then, at least in the US. I've done blessings for a child with parents in another ward. You simply record the blessing with all information (including the ward where the parents reside) and all the information gets sent to CHQ and the record gets created in the ward where the parents reside.

lahimaoa and/or kpoff, do you live somewhere beside the US or Canada? I'm wondering if some countries now require written proof of parental consent at CHQ before a record can be created. I can't think of any other reason why something would have to be sent via mail. Otherwise I would expect MLS to just send the necessary information itself.

eblood66 wrote:lahimaoa and/or kpoff, do you live somewhere beside the US or Canada? I'm wondering if some countries now require written proof of parental consent at CHQ before a record can be created. I can't think of any other reason why something would have to be sent via mail. Otherwise I would expect MLS to just send the necessary information itself.

Unless my sleuthing skills (and admin powers) are off, both are in UT. But then, so is aebrown.

But the "wet signature" requirement is a interesting theory. By any chance, is this is part-member family? Maybe that comes into play when a non-member is involved.

Edit: Handbook 1: 16.2.4 indicates verbal permission is required when there is a non-member parent. Perhaps that's been upgraded to written.

russellhltn wrote:Unless my sleuthing skills (and admin powers) are off, both are in UT. But then, so is aebrown.

And I was in UT as well when I recorded those blessings. But it has been about 2 years since then.

russellhltn wrote:But the "wet signature" requirement is a interesting theory. By any chance, is this is part-member family? Maybe that comes into play when a non-member is involved.

Edit: Handbook 1: 16.2.4 indicates verbal permission is required when there is a non-member parent. Perhaps that's been upgraded to written.

Perhaps but I don't know of any laws in the US that would require that. Even if the church decided they wanted written proof I wouldn't expect them to require that it be sent in. I'd think they would just require the unit to inspect (and possibly keep for some time) the proof.

Maybe it's a requirement elsewhere and a bug is making it show up in some circumstances when it shouldn't. It might be worthwhile for one of those who have encountered this to contact LUS about it. If it's a bug, they can try to track it down. If not, it would be good to know what the new policy is and when it applies.

I just discovered that there are two places where we can fill out a Child Blessing Record. The place where it becomes an official part of the ward record is apparently found under Membership - Ordinances - Record Child of Blessing. That one took the information just fine and the child shows up in the ward list now. It also allows us to print the Blessing Certificate.
However, there is a second place that will take information to fill out and print a Child Blessing Record. That is found under Reports/Forms - Ordinance Record Forms - Child Blessing Record. This allows you to fill out the form and print it out for the signature of the parent or guardian. This is the one that gives us the pop-up window telling us to mail or fax a copy to Church Headquarters.
Seems a bit confusing to have similar things in two different places, especially when it would be helpful to have some instruction about where to look if it isn't the form you need. It's also a bit disconcerting to have a pop-up window with instructions that nobody seems to know anything about. Maybe it's a holdover from an old policy, but I hope someone out there knows who to inform so it can be fixed.

kpoff wrote:However, there is a second place that will take information to fill out and print a Child Blessing Record. That is found under Reports/Forms - Ordinance Record Forms - Child Blessing Record. This allows you to fill out the form and print it out for the signature of the parent or guardian. This is the one that gives us the pop-up window telling us to mail or fax a copy to Church Headquarters.

It would make sense that if you printed out the form and used it to record the blessing of a child, you would need to mail or fax it to Church headquarters (or the area office) in order for the membership record to be created.

I also believe that in some countries, the Church is required to maintain the form with the signature, but I do not believe this is a requirement in North America.

I will point out this topic to the MLS folks and see if they have any comment.

kpoff wrote:I just discovered that there are two places where we can fill out a Child Blessing Record. The place where it becomes an official part of the ward record is apparently found under Membership - Ordinances - Record Child of Blessing. That one took the information just fine and the child shows up in the ward list now. It also allows us to print the Blessing Certificate.
However, there is a second place that will take information to fill out and print a Child Blessing Record. That is found under Reports/Forms - Ordinance Record Forms - Child Blessing Record. This allows you to fill out the form and print it out for the signature of the parent or guardian. This is the one that gives us the pop-up window telling us to mail or fax a copy to Church Headquarters.
Seems a bit confusing to have similar things in two different places, especially when it would be helpful to have some instruction about where to look if it isn't the form you need. It's also a bit disconcerting to have a pop-up window with instructions that nobody seems to know anything about. Maybe it's a holdover from an old policy, but I hope someone out there knows who to inform so it can be fixed.

Ok. I understand now.

These are two different things intended for two different purposes.

The form under Reports/Forms - Ordinance Record Forms - Child Blessing Record is what you print before the blessing. Usually you only fill out a portion of this form (or even leave it blank) and then give it to the parents to finish filling out and signing. This is the way that you gather the information about the child. Filling out this form does not record the blessing.

Once the ordinance is performed you then take that form and use the Membership - Ordinance - Record Child Blessing to actually record the blessing. As you've seen now this is what actually creates the membership record and prints the blessing certificate.

The Reports/Forms - Ordinance Record Forms dialog lets you print several different forms. None of these forms actually record anything. They are used to gather information so that you can record ordinances later. MLS allows you to save these forms if you want. For most forms this isn't very useful because once you print the form you don't need the information you entered in the form. But the same ability is used for the confidential forms. You often need to save those forms until the discipline has been fully processed. Because of that MLS gives a popup which lets you know that just because you saved the form, you haven't sent anything to CHQ. For confidential forms you still need to send them in. But it shows that same dialog regardless of which form you save.

So don't worry about sending anything in. There is no policy change.

It's nice when the forum has pretty much sorted out the issue before I get to check the latest messages on Monday morning!

The Church is required to collect and store the forms in some areas of the world due to privacy laws. In those areas, completed forms are typically sent to the area office to be digitized. The United States is not currently one of those places.

I suspect this is the case identified by kpoff where there are two different places to create a child blessing record form. One is intended to create a new membership record and the other is to create a printed form without creating a membership record to support situations where a bishop or clerk wants to print a completed form without creating a membership record. The warning is to help prevent scenarions where a clerk creates a printed form when he intended to create a membership record. I can see where the confusion comes from, but the warning did its intended job.

The ability to create membership records is on the road map for LCR, so I don't expect this will be changed in MLS.

Does notice 13708, dated 5 Dec 2014 in the Official Communication Library apply to units in the United States, or only to areas listed in the "To" line?

Subject: "Sending Child Blessing Records and Baptism and Confirmation Records to the
Administrative Office"

we ask that all completed and signed copies of the Child
Blessing Record and the Baptism and Confirmation Record be mailed to the assigned
administrative office

drepouille wrote:Does notice 13708, dated 5 Dec 2014 in the Official Communication Library apply to units in the United States, or only to areas listed in the "To" line?
Subject: "Sending Child Blessing Records and Baptism and Confirmation Records to the
Administrative Office"

The Notice only applies to the Europe and Europe East Areas and the additional countries specified in the "To:" line. Those countries require the keeping of the signature authorizing the creation of the membership record. Otherwise, the information cannot legally be transferred to Church headquarters due to privacy laws in those countries.

The privacy laws of the U.S. do not (yet) require this.

Check "Official Communications" for information about the requirement to mail the records.