Adult child of record who has moved away

Hi. We have the record of an adult child-of-record, age 22, who was never baptized, who has not attended church meetings in many years, and whose parents have not attended meetings in many years. I've proven this person's current address using Facebook and real estate records. She lives in a different stake. Should I send the record to her current ward and tell them she's an unbaptized child-of-record? Or should I keep the record and ask the full-time missionaries in the other stake to try to contact her, then ask my stake president for permission to cancel the record if/when she tells the missionaries she doesn't want to be baptized?

Thank you!

Scott Simpson
Assistant Clerk for Membership
Springfield Second Ward
Springfield Illinois Stake

You should cancel the record.

General Handbook 33.6.2 covers this. The record should probably be canceled. However, given that they live in a different stake, the question becomes should the record be moved first? I think the question is which unit would be in the best position to know her intentions and/or contact her.

Personally, I think this is a good subject to bring up with the ward council of both wards. Who knows, maybe someone in the ward she lives in knows her.

wssimpson wrote:Hi. We have the record of an adult child-of-record, age 22, who was never baptized, who has not attended church meetings in many years, and whose parents have not attended meetings in many years. I've proven this person's current address using Facebook and real estate records. She lives in a different stake. Should I send the record to her current ward and tell them she's an unbaptized child-of-record? Or should I keep the record and ask the full-time missionaries in the other stake to try to contact her, then ask my stake president for permission to cancel the record if/when she tells the missionaries she doesn't want to be baptized?

From the Handbook: "At that time, if the person chooses not to be baptized despite being given every opportunity, the bishop, with written permission from the stake president, cancels the membership record."

Your bishop is no longer this person's bishop. Send the record to the other ward with an explanation and let the person's bishop make the determination.