Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

I anticipate a child being blessed in my unit who is the child of members of another unit. This is a grandchild being blessed in the grandparents ward.
The baby will be blessed by the member birth father. I'm wondering what is the best way to handle this?

• I could create the blessing certificate in MLS. This will create a new membership record in our ward, which I must then transfer to the parents ward.
• What if the record is already created in the home ward? For members of my ward, I try to create a child of record as soon as possible rather than waiting for the blessing to occur. I then print the certificate when the blessing occurs.
• Should I request the home ward create the record for the child? Is it possible to create a blessing certificate for an existing child of record outside of my unit?
• I believe the certificate must be generated in the unit where the blessing takes place, in order for the presiding Bishop to sign it; is this correct?

See the article in the Help Center:
https://www.lds.org/help/support/create ... hip-record

You should be able to check whether the home ward has already created a record by beginning (but not completing) a record request in LCR (do the search but then hit cancel at step 2). Or you can just call the home ward and ask. If the home ward has already created a record then just print the certificate, have your bishop sign it and then it can be presented after the baby blessing. I think you'll have to print the certificate in MLS because I don't think you can print a blessing certificate in LCR unless you have their record in your ward. In MLS, just select Membership > Ordinances > Certificates from the menu.

If the home ward has not created a record then follow the procedure described in the the Help Center article that drepouille linked. Basically record the blessing in MLS but fill in the 'Unit Where Child Resides' fields. In this case you will print the certificate and present the certificate but the record will be created and automatically sent to the home ward and linked to the parents' household.

Old post I know.... I have NOT been creating the records of babies blessed in our ward but the parents are in another ward (e.g. the grandparents are in our ward). I have been letting the other ward create the record and print the certificate. This seems to simplify the process. The only downside I see is the certificate then shows their ward info. It's good to see this post and know that I could go the route of creating the record myself (details in your link) and the record still ends up in their home ward.

Now for an odd situation I ran into. We had a young family move into our ward. I realized their youngest child had no record. I tried to pull it just in case it existed somewhere but it didn't. They had a physical copy of the certificate showing their child was blessed in a grandparent's ward but no actual record existed. I'm still stumped how they created a certificate without creating a new record. The blessing probably happened in 2014 or 2015.

A certificate at that time would have been printed in MLS. It was quite easy to print a certificate without a record in MLS. If you already made sure there isn't a record then go ahead and create the record. No need to print another certificate.

eblood66 wrote:You should be able to check whether the home ward has already created a record by beginning (but not completing) a record request in LCR (do the search but then hit cancel at step 2). Or you can just call the home ward and ask. If the home ward has already created a record then just print the certificate, have your bishop sign it and then it can be presented after the baby blessing. I think you'll have to print the certificate in MLS because I don't think you can print a blessing certificate in LCR unless you have their record in your ward. In MLS, just select Membership > Ordinances > Certificates from the menu.

If the home ward has not created a record then follow the procedure described in the the Help Center article that drepouille linked. Basically record the blessing in MLS but fill in the 'Unit Where Child Resides' fields. In this case you will print the certificate and present the certificate but the record will be created and automatically sent to the home ward and linked to the parents' household.

I know this thread is old but I thought I'd add a comment since LCR is now different due to software updates. Baby records are now created in LCR. There is not the ability to fill in the unit where the baby resides. The only thing I can see is that a baby record is created with the baby as their own head of household in your local ward (and the parents are in another ward). Then you have to use the "move record out" function in LCR to send the record to the ward they actually live in. I'm sure the clerk on the receiving side of that transfer then has to merge the record back into the "household" of the family.

It's enough hassle that it's almost worth letting the other ward create the record. The only downside is the blessing form print method on LCR requires a record (I'm pretty sure that's the case). Otherwise their ward can print the blessing form but it will have their ward's name on it which isn't where the baby was blessed.

chriswoodut wrote:It's enough hassle that it's almost worth letting the other ward create the record.

Given how LCR works now, my recommendation now is that the home ward should handle all the paperwork including printing the 'Create Record Form', creating the record and printing the certificate. The 'Create Record Form' doesn't require the signature of the bishop or of a witness but the priesthood leader who attends the blessing could add a note so the home ward clerk knows the blessing did take place (but really the parent's statement is probably enough since a blessing isn't a saving ordinance).

chriswoodut wrote:The only downside is the blessing form print method on LCR requires a record (I'm pretty sure that's the case). Otherwise their ward can print the blessing form but it will have their ward's name on it which isn't where the baby was blessed.

Actually you can print a blank form from LCR except it will still have the ward and stake already entered. But I'm not sure the ward's name should be the ward where the baby is blessed or the home ward anyway. Personally, I think it should be the home ward since that is where the record should be and the form is really more about creating the record rather than the blessing (as evidenced by the change in form name).

I don't want to be antagonistic, but I disagree with both chriswoodut and eblood66.
When printing a certificate, it will reflect the ward in which the certificate is printed. While a baby blessing is not a saving ordinance, it is still presided over by priesthood authority, in particular the Bishop of the ward in which the blessing takes place. For this reason, it is only appropriate for this Bishop to sign the blessing certificate and therefore should be printed and signed in the ward in which the blessing takes place. See Handbook 1, section 16 and Handbook2, section 20.

Fortunately, it is not a large hassle to handle this in another ward.
If the membership record has not been created, it can be created in the blessing ward, certificate printed and signed. When moving the record to the home ward, the baby can be directly placed in the parents' household; no action is required by the home ward clerk.

If the membership record has already been created, then it is easily pulled into the blessing ward. I might place the baby in mine or the bishop's household, just to have an address to complete the transfer. Print and sign the certificate, then return it to the home ward, again directly into the parents' household; again, no action is required by the home ward clerk.

mrclary wrote:I don't want to be antagonistic, but I disagree with both chriswoodut and eblood66.
When printing a certificate, it will reflect the ward in which the certificate is printed. While a baby blessing is not a saving ordinance, it is still presided over by priesthood authority, in particular the Bishop of the ward in which the blessing takes place. For this reason, it is only appropriate for this Bishop to sign the blessing certificate and therefore should be printed and signed in the ward in which the blessing takes place. See Handbook 1, section 16 and Handbook2, section 20.

Fortunately, it is not a large hassle to handle this in another ward.
If the membership record has not been created, it can be created in the blessing ward, certificate printed and signed. When moving the record to the home ward, the baby can be directly placed in the parents' household; no action is required by the home ward clerk.

If the membership record has already been created, then it is easily pulled into the blessing ward. I might place the baby in mine or the bishop's household, just to have an address to complete the transfer. Print and sign the certificate, then return it to the home ward, again directly into the parents' household; again, no action is required by the home ward clerk.

I'd be happy if I could officially say that creating the record and certificate is not my responsibility since the parents and child don't live in our ward. I actually started doing it that way when I first become clerk and I got push back from a family that wanted the certificate to indicate the ward where the child was blessed. If you read the instructions (that are lacking) and the certificate itself, it could be interpreted both ways.

Note that if I push the record to the other ward, I can't select the family to merge it into. Only if the other ward PULLS the record can they merge it in one step -- otherwise it's two steps.

mrclary wrote:If the membership record has not been created, it can be created in the blessing ward, certificate printed and signed. When moving the record to the home ward, the baby can be directly placed in the parents' household; no action is required by the home ward clerk.

I disagree with that last part. Same address, yes. But I question about behind able to send into a household.

mrclary wrote:If the membership record has already been created, then it is easily pulled into the blessing ward. I might place the baby in mine or the bishop's household, just to have an address to complete the transfer. Print and sign the certificate, then return it to the home ward, again directly into the parents' household; again, no action is required by the home ward clerk.

• Pulling the record just to do the ordinances strikes me as questionable.
• Putting the child into someone else's household is highly questionable.
• Again, I don't think it's possible for the sending ward to send the record directly into a household.

mrclary wrote:I don't want to be antagonistic, but I disagree with both chriswoodut and eblood66.
When printing a certificate, it will reflect the ward in which the certificate is printed. While a baby blessing is not a saving ordinance, it is still presided over by priesthood authority, in particular the Bishop of the ward in which the blessing takes place. For this reason, it is only appropriate for this Bishop to sign the blessing certificate and therefore should be printed and signed in the ward in which the blessing takes place. See Handbook 1, section 16 and Handbook2, section 20.

I also don't want to be augmentative and ultimately It is up to the bishops and stake presidents involved to make a determination of how to proceed and I don't claim to any authority.

However, personally, I don't find anything in the handbook that addresses this situation. In fact, what the handbook does say (in Handbook 2, section 20.2.1) is that blessings are normally done in the ward where the parent's records are. My take is that out-of-unit blessings are overall discouraged anyway. LCR seems to be programmed accordingly.

As for which priesthood authority has the keys over the blessing, I don't know of anywhere it is addressed. However, for a baptism the home bishop is definitely the one with the keys. He is the one to do the interview and he is the one to sign the certificate. That is stated in the handbook (Handbook 1, section 16.1.3). A priesthood leader in the other unit does preside over the ordinance but the ordinance must be authorized by the home ward bishop. I think the same applies for a blessing. Parents cannot go to just any ward and ask for authorization to bless their child. They have to go to their home ward bishop. Without specific guidance otherwise, I think it reasonable to follow the same models as for other ordinances and have the home ward handle the paperwork and the home ward bishop sign the certificate.

At least, that's the recommendation I'd still make to my priesthood leaders but I'd leave it up to them to decide after giving them the information I know.

russellhltn wrote:

• Again, I don't think it's possible for the sending ward to send the record directly into a household.

It is possible for a sending ward to move records directly into a household. When selecting records to be moved, one of the options is "Join to an existing household in the new ward or branch." When using that option, the clerk must provide information that identifies the new household. An address doesn't need to be provided since the household already has an address.

eblood66 wrote:A priesthood leader in the other unit does preside over the ordinance but the ordinance must be authorized by the home ward bishop. I think the same applies for a blessing. Parents cannot go to just any ward and ask for authorization to bless their child. They have to go to their home ward bishop.

In the case of an "away" blessing, I think some other factors come into play. The worthiness of the infant is not in question. The question is more about permission to be blessed (are they really the parents, or just foster?).

The other question that comes into play is who is doing the blessing? If it's going to be the grandfather (which may be the reason it's being done outside of the home unit), then we end up with a "joint" permissions issue that we wouldn't normally have.

scgallafent wrote:

russellhltn wrote:

• Again, I don't think it's possible for the sending ward to send the record directly into a household.

It is possible for a sending ward to move records directly into a household. When selecting records to be moved, one of the options is "Join to an existing household in the new ward or branch." When using that option, the clerk must provide information that identifies the new household. An address doesn't need to be provided since the household already has an address.

I just sent the child's record out today and did not see that option at all.

scgallafent wrote:It is possible for a sending ward to move records directly into a household.

I stand corrected. That's a nice feature.

I'll bet the YSA Student ward rejoiced on that one since they could send the kids back home.

russellhltn wrote:

scgallafent wrote:It is possible for a sending ward to move records directly into a household.

I stand corrected. That's a nice feature.

I'll bet the YSA Student ward rejoiced on that one since they could send the kids back home.

When we receive YSA students back (which is frequent), they always show up as their own head of household. (for records not requested by us)

chriswoodut wrote:

scgallafent wrote:

russellhltn wrote:

• Again, I don't think it's possible for the sending ward to send the record directly into a household.

It is possible for a sending ward to move records directly into a household.

I just sent the child's record out today and did not see that option at all.

I promise it's there.

Ahh, you have to click it to see the option. The 'select head of household' is a bit misleading when the child is the only person in the house. A radio button would make more sense or text that indicates there's more than one option.

I appreciate all the knowledge passed on in this thread! I was able to create a record for a baby blessed today in our ward, print out a blessing certificate, and then move the baby out of the ward and into his father's household in their home ward. It all worked seamlessly.

Interestingly, LCR has recently changed to require a "Child of Record" form be uploaded to create the record and record the blessing. A "Baptism and Confirmation" form is similarly required for recording baptisms now; even for 8 year old members of record that are BIC and baptized in their home ward.

And this is where I jump all over the bishop and his counselors for not getting a signed form from a parent of the baby before they bless the baby and run out the door of the chapel for family photos and celebrations. I pinned a stack of blank forms to the bulletin board outside the bishop's office.

simataas wrote:I appreciate all the knowledge passed on in this thread! I was able to create a record for a baby blessed today in our ward, print out a blessing certificate, and then move the baby out of the ward and into his father's household in their home ward. It all worked seamlessly.

Interestingly, LCR has recently changed to require a "Child of Record" form be uploaded to create the record and record the blessing. A "Baptism and Confirmation" form is similarly required for recording baptisms now; even for 8 year old members of record that are BIC and baptized in their home ward.

Oh man, requiring the form....! I've let parents send me the info by text rather than fill out the form. I've let Bishopric members just report to me that it happened and who performed the blessing or ordinance. This is going to be painful to require forms. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. But, I'm guessing they're doing it because they want parent signatures on the docs.

(Why don't they send out info to clerks that these changes are happening? It would be good to know in advance.)

chriswoodut wrote:

simataas wrote:Interestingly, LCR has recently changed to require a "Child of Record" form be uploaded to create the record and record the blessing. A "Baptism and Confirmation" form is similarly required for recording baptisms now; even for 8 year old members of record that are BIC and baptized in their home ward.

Oh man, requiring the form....! I've let parents send me the info by text rather than fill out the form. I've let Bishopric members just report to me that it happened and who performed the blessing or ordinance. This is going to be painful to require forms. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. But, I'm guessing they're doing it because they want parent signatures on the docs.

(Why don't they send out info to clerks that these changes are happening? It would be good to know in advance.)

I too relied on verbal reports previously. We are now required to plan ahead more - similar, I imagine, to how Clerks had to operate pre-computer era. Oh well.

simataas wrote:

chriswoodut wrote:

simataas wrote:Interestingly, LCR has recently changed to require a "Child of Record" form be uploaded to create the record and record the blessing. A "Baptism and Confirmation" form is similarly required for recording baptisms now; even for 8 year old members of record that are BIC and baptized in their home ward.

Oh man, requiring the form....! I've let parents send me the info by text rather than fill out the form. I've let Bishopric members just report to me that it happened and who performed the blessing or ordinance. This is going to be painful to require forms. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. But, I'm guessing they're doing it because they want parent signatures on the docs.

(Why don't they send out info to clerks that these changes are happening? It would be good to know in advance.)

I too relied on verbal reports previously. We are now required to plan ahead more - similar, I imagine, to how Clerks had to operate pre-computer era. Oh well.

I guess we can still accept a text message with a picture of the form signed.

chriswoodut wrote:(Why don't they send out info to clerks that these changes are happening? It would be good to know in advance.)

The LCR 4.5 Release Notes from May 6, 2019 mention adding the ability to upload parental consent forms for baptisms. I suspect more recent release notes discussing parental consent forms for blessings have not yet been posted to the Help Center.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/hel ... ease-notes

drepouille wrote:

chriswoodut wrote:(Why don't they send out info to clerks that these changes are happening? It would be good to know in advance.)

The LCR 4.5 Release Notes from May 6, 2019 mention adding the ability to upload parental consent forms for baptisms. I suspect more recent release notes discussing parental consent forms for blessings have not yet been posted to the Help Center.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/hel ... ease-notes

It doesn't state that the forms are required just that the ability is there. I assume from the other person's comment that the website enforces the form to be uploaded in order to continue creating a record?

There's also a comment about restricting birthdays and age visibility in order to meet privacy laws. I assume these are possibly European laws and not the United States? We publish birthdays in our ward, I wonder if we should stop doing that. (Our ward is in the United States.)

I have not yet been forced to upload the consent forms. I can create a record and record a baptism without uploading a form. I don't know if it will be a requirement in the future.

drepouille wrote:I have not yet been forced to upload the consent forms. I can create a record and record a baptism without uploading a form. I don't know if it will be a requirement in the future.

We have done 2 child of record baptisms in our ward in the past few weeks. In both cases, I could not save the ordinance until I uploaded the form (the save button was greyed out). After I entered the information, I was able to print it out completely filled in (dates, etc.) except for the parental signature. Then I had to re-enter all the information again as I had signed out of LCR so I could go get a signature and scan the form.

chriswoodut wrote:There's also a comment about restricting birthdays and age visibility in order to meet privacy laws. I assume these are possibly European laws and not the United States? We publish birthdays in our ward, I wonder if we should stop doing that. (Our ward is in the United States.)

This also applies in the United States. The most visible change will be that some members of the ward council will start seeing just the day and month of birth (no year or age) for some members.

scgallafent wrote:

chriswoodut wrote:There's also a comment about restricting birthdays and age visibility in order to meet privacy laws. I assume these are possibly European laws and not the United States? We publish birthdays in our ward, I wonder if we should stop doing that. (Our ward is in the United States.)

This also applies in the United States. The most visible change will be that some members of the ward council will start seeing just the day and month of birth (no year or age) for some members.

Ok, so... I take it that birthdays should not be printed in a newsletter or sacrament program then? (I think the way it is worded, the answer is yes... but I hate to be 'that guy' to shut down the publishing when I know it was a point of discussion that they wanted to publish it.)

chriswoodut wrote:Ok, so... I take it that birthdays should not be printed in a newsletter or sacrament program then? (I think the way it is worded, the answer is yes... but I hate to be 'that guy' to shut down the publishing when I know it was a point of discussion that they wanted to publish it.)

Birthdays (without year or age) are less sensitive that including the age, but I know that there have been cases where members have taken issue with the fact that their birthday has been included in a newsletter or some other kind of public communication.

I understand this is an old thread, but adding the new Handbook language for reference. According to this, a membership record should be created after the blessing, not before.

18.6.3 Child Record Form and Blessing Certificate

Before a child is blessed, a clerk uses Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) to prepare a Child Record Form. After the blessing, he creates the membership record in that system and prepares a Blessing Certificate. This certificate is signed by the bishop and given to the child’s parents or guardians.

The name on the membership record and certificate should match the birth certificate, civil birth registry, or current legal name.

18. Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings
General Handbook
Handbooks and Callings

JoshuaSampson wrote:I understand this is an old thread, but adding the new Handbook language for reference. According to this, a membership record should be created after the blessing, not before.

18.6.3 Child Record Form and Blessing Certificate

Before a child is blessed, a clerk uses Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) to prepare a Child Record Form. After the blessing, he creates the membership record in that system and prepares a Blessing Certificate. This certificate is signed by the bishop and given to the child’s parents or guardians.

The name on the membership record and certificate should match the birth certificate, civil birth registry, or current legal name.

18. Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings
General Handbook
Handbooks and Callings

I see what you are pointing out but it seems there are reasonable situations where a record is created for a child that was never blessed. I have done this. A blessing is not an ordinance and is not actually recorded in LCR (the blessing info is only recorded on the printed certificate, I don't think the info is saved). I have also created records before a blessing and then gone back and created the certificate after the blessing. Now that the form needs to be signed and uploaded, it is easier to just do it after the blessing.

chriswoodut wrote:A blessing is not an ordinance

I believe it's still an ordinance, just not a saving (required for salvation) ordinance. Therefore, not something that has to be tracked.

chriswoodut wrote:and is not actually recorded in LCR (the blessing info is only recorded on the printed certificate, I don't think the info is saved).

MLS would save it, but not transmit it when the record was moved, so it was lost. Based on past posts, I believe LCR does save it and it does stick when the record is moved (since LCR is now a central server). As far as I know, it's not part of the membership record, but in LCR.

But you are correct in that it has little practical use outside of printing the certificate.

A blessing is not a prerequisite for creating a membership record.

Unblessed children under 8 when (1) at least one parent or one grandparent is a member of the Church and (2) both parents give permission for a record to be created. This includes children of converts. (If one parent does not have legal custody of the child, the permission of the parent who has custody is sufficient.)

See General Handbook 33.6.2, emphasis mine.

38.2.1.3
Records of Ordinances
When a person receives a saving ordinance or a priesthood ordination, a clerk from the ward where the person’s membership record is held:

Obtains information about the ordinance or ordination.

Ensures that this information is recorded on the person’s membership record and on the certificate.

puhl wrote:... When a person receives a saving ordinance or a priesthood ordination ...

A baby blessing isn't a saving ordinance or a priesthood ordination, so I'm not sure if this applies in this case.

From General Handbook 18.6 provides guidance.
"Exceptions to the typical place of the child’s blessing must be approved by the bishop. Possible exceptions include ... blessings in another ward where the child’s grandparents or many family members live; and blessings in the home."

"Before a child is blessed, a clerk uses Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) to prepare a Child Record Form. After the blessing, he creates the membership record in that system and prepares a Blessing Certificate. This certificate is signed by the bishop and given to the child’s parents or guardians."

In the case of a baby being blessed in another ward, the second quote isn't completely clear on which bishop or which clerk does this.

russellhltn wrote:From General Handbook 18.6 provides guidance.
"Exceptions to the typical place of the child’s blessing must be approved by the bishop. Possible exceptions include ... blessings in another ward where the child’s grandparents or many family members live; and blessings in the home."

"Before a child is blessed, a clerk uses Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) to prepare a Child Record Form. After the blessing, he creates the membership record in that system and prepares a Blessing Certificate. This certificate is signed by the bishop and given to the child’s parents or guardians."

In the case of a baby being blessed in another ward, the second quote isn't completely clear on which bishop or which clerk does this.

This may already be mentioned in this thread.... If the ward were the child resides creates the certificate, the wording is slightly wrong if the child was blessed in another ward. It's a bit wonky. I had one parent really want our ward listed and I pushed back and had their ward clerk just do it on their end. Since then, I learned I can create the child's record, print the certificate, and then transfer the child's record to their actual ward and place the child in the proper household. In most cases, the child and parents go back to their home/ward before I can get a certificate printed and signed by the bishop. I'm sure when I then give that signed certificate to the grandparents that it rarely gets passed along to the child's parents.

I got frustrated once doing the reverse where I was waiting on the remote ward to create the record and push it to me -- the counselor had the form somewhere and the clerk was slow to track it down. It took at least a month to get them to do it and send me the record. I now prefer to create the record myself and not rely on others and let the certificate wording be a little off.

18.6

Naming and Blessing Children
“Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:70).

Children are typically named and blessed during fast and testimony meeting in the ward where their parents reside. If the parents do not reside together, the ordinance is usually performed in the ward where the child will primarily live.

Exceptions to the typical place of the child’s blessing must be approved by the bishop. Possible exceptions include blessings not on fast Sunday, especially in wards with many new babies; blessings in another ward where the child’s grandparents or many family members live; and blessings in the home.

A blessing is not a saving ordnance. The biggest fallout from not resolving the missing blessing is the parents don't get a blessing certificate. As I recall, it's not on the actual membership record. For many years, MLS was quietly discard that information when the record changed wards. I understand that LCR retains it.

If the parents have a blessing certificate, then that can be used to record it.

The clerk can try and rectify it, but it's not in the same category as missing a baptism or ordination.

At this point, it seems the issue is that there's no record for the child. That does need to be fixed.

russellhltn wrote:A blessing is not a saving ordnance. The biggest fallout from not resolving the missing blessing is the parents don't get a blessing certificate. As I recall, it's not on the actual membership record. For many years, MLS was quietly discard that information when the record changed wards. I understand that LCR retains it.

LCR doesn't retain it -- there isn't anywhere to record it.

scgallafent wrote:LCR doesn't retain it -- there isn't anywhere to record it.

How is a blessing certificate created? It doesn't hold any of that information after pressing print?

russellhltn wrote:

scgallafent wrote:LCR doesn't retain it -- there isn't anywhere to record it.

How is a blessing certificate created? It doesn't hold any of that information after pressing print?

No. The entered information is only used to generate the certificate.

Add me as yet another person going "Ok, I've read through this thread, some of the info is outdated, and I'm still not sure how to handle this situation..."

We have a fairly common thing going on. We have new parents who are from another unit. They would like to bless their baby in our ward (NOT their home ward) because the grandparents are going to be here (for a missionary return). Basically, all of the family is here in our ward for a missionary returning -- so they'd like to bless the baby in our unit during that time.

I'm still confused on what the best practice is for doing this. Some say to have their home ward create the record first -- but others say that isn't the best way (and actually causes some information to be a bit incorrect or "wonky"). So, do we just create the whole thing here and make the baby their own head of household? And then send the record to the parents' home ward immediately after to have them add it to their parents' household?

Also, the handbook states:

"Exceptions to the typical place of the child’s blessing must be approved by the bishop."

By WHICH Bishop? The home ward of the parents must approve them to perform the ordinance in another unit? Or the Bishop of the other unit must approve them being able to do it in his unit? Or both, I guess?

The bishop of the unit in which the parents' records are kept must approve the baby blessing being done out of unit, or in another unit. The bishop of the unit in which the blessing will be performed must also agree to having the blessing done in his ward. It doesn't matter whether the parents' bishop coordinates with the other bishop or whether the parents coordinate with the other bishop.

The parents' home unit clerk creates a partially filled out blessing form by going to LCR > Membership > Create Record and filling in the baby's information. Then the partially completed form is printed by clicking the 'Print Create Record Form' button. Alternatively a completely blank form can be printed by going to LCR > Membership > Create Record and clicking the ' Blank Create Record Form (seven or younger)' link and printing the form. The printed form is given to the parents to take with them to the unit in which the blessing will be performed. That form is completed following the blessing and must include the name, priesthood office, and MRN or birth date of the person performing the blessing if it is someone outside the parents' home ward. If the father is the one performing the blessing then only the name is required. The completed and signed form is returned to the parents' home ward clerk to create the record and print the certificate.

Note that the record for the child can be created before the blessing is done if the parents desire. This will require two forms being completed - one to create the record and one with the same information but with the blessing information added. Both forms will require a parent signature. If two forms are used, the first form uploaded must be replaced by the second form.

jdlessley wrote: Mon Jun 03, 2024 2:06 pm The parents' home unit clerk creates a partially filled out blessing form by going to LCR > Membership > Create Record and filling in the baby's information. Then the partially completed form is printed by clicking the 'Print Create Record Form' button. Alternatively a completely blank form can be printed by going to LCR > Membership > Create Record and clicking the ' Blank Create Record Form (seven or younger)' link and printing the form. The printed form is given to the parents to take with them to the unit in which the blessing will be performed. That form is completed following the blessing and must include the name, priesthood office, and MRN or birth date of the person performing the blessing if it is someone outside the parents' home ward. If the father is the one performing the blessing then only the name is required. The completed and signed form is returned to the parents' home ward clerk to create the record and print the certificate.

Based on everything else in this thread up to this point, this seems not the best way to do it to me. Almost everyone above seems to indicated that the better way to do it is to have the ward where the baby is blessed create the record, print the certificate, and then transfer the record into the home ward (and place the baby directly into the family where it belongs).

Is that not the case and current best practice?

Is that not the case and current best practice?

In general, I found it hard to get another ward clerk to create a record for something that occurred in our ward or for something that occurred in their ward with our member. I don't know why, but there often was a hesitancy to figure out the cross-ward coordination of blessings/ordinations.

I ran into a couple of situations where families moved into our ward with a baby not having a record even though a blessing did occur a year or more before. It once took me 6 weeks to get a ward clerk in another state to complete a step. After these issues, I decided getting the record created is the most important thing and if I could do that and push it to them, then I would. If needed, I would also nag them and get the info if I needed to create a record. I just took ownership of it because the records being right and updated timely are important.

jgoggan wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2024 9:04 am Almost everyone above seems to indicated that the better way to do it is to have the ward where the baby is blessed create the record, print the certificate, and then transfer the record into the home ward (and place the baby directly into the family where it belongs).

This creates problems and is not in accordance with the General Handbook. First is the creation of a record for a child in a unit in which they do not live, nor the parents live. Second is the certificate would be signed by the wrong bishop/branch president and show as the approving authority for creating the child record incorrectly since only the bishop/branch president of the unit in which the parents live has the keys to authorize the blessing and the creation of the record. It is not possible to move a record into a household in another unit. It is only possible for a unit to move in a record and place it in a household within that unit.

The responsibility for maintaining unit membership records belongs to the unit in which the record resides, or rather where the member lives. See General Handbook, 33.6, "Membership records should be kept in the ward where the member lives." In the same section it states "clerks ...create records for new members and new children of member parents." There is no provision in the General Handbook for creating a new children record in any other unit other than the one in which the parents live.

jdlessley wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2024 9:49 pm The responsibility for maintaining unit membership records belongs to the unit in which the record resides, or rather where the member lives. See General Handbook, 33.6, "Membership records should be kept in the ward where the member lives." In the same section it states "clerks ...create records for new members and new children of member parents." There is no provision in the General Handbook for creating a new children record in any other unit other than the one in which the parents live.

It doesn't say it can't be done and the system fully supports it.