Two Sessions Req'd to Add a Family?

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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terrysackett
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Two Sessions Req'd to Add a Family?

#1

Post by terrysackett »

This is my first post/question, so if it must be submitted elsewhere, please let me know.
I am a new ward clerk, and my membership clerk is even newer, so we don't know a lot about MLS other than what is contained in the Record-keeping Training on lds.org. I have been doing some of the membership stuff so I can learn the system.
I recently moved a family into the ward through MLS. I entered the husband's full name on the top line and the wife's full maiden name on the second line, then entered the other necessary data and sent it. When the record was added to our ward database by the administration office, it included the two children, but not the wife. It showed her as being the husband's spouse on his ordinance record, but she was not in the membership list at all. I had to request her record separately. Is this normal, or should I have done something different?
I know that I entered the correct data for the wife the first time, because it just so happens that she is my niece. I obviously just put the data in the wrong fields, I guess.
russellhltn
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Location: U.S.

#2

Post by russellhltn »

It doesn't sound like the norm. Since you got the two children, you must have requested the family. Normally you just request the head of house and specify this is a family move. I'm not sure why you didn't get the wife. I'm guessing that she wasn't properly grouped with her husband in the prior ward.

But you noticed it wasn't right and took action to correct it. That's what clerking is all about. Welcome to the group! :)
fraserredmond
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Location: New Zealand

Tips for a new ward clerk

#3

Post by fraserredmond »

SR Ward Clerk wrote:I am a new ward clerk.
It sounds like the problem you had was just "one of those things" - I agree with RussellHltn that it was probably setup wrong in the last ward.


But reading your post reminded me of a document I'd made earlier this year to try and list all the things a Ward Clerk is meant to do. I've attached it, and hopefully it'll help you out.

If anyone has suggestions or changes based on things they've done, or differences between countries please let me know. Hopefully this can be the basis for a page on a future Ward Clerks website.

Two warnings though:
1) It's based on my experience in the UK and in New Zealand, so some things will be quite different in the USA, and your ward will have different needs to other USA wards anyway.
2) The paper-size is set to A4, not Letter size, so you'll have to scale it if you decide to print it.

If theres interest, maybe we could make this a wiki somewhere (maybe on the tech.lds.org site?) so that the document can be open-source-ified.
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Clerk Responsibilities.pdf
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terrysackett
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#4

Post by terrysackett »

Thanks for the response and for the welcome. I don't remember whether I specified that it was a family move, but I must have because, as you said, I received the kids with the husband.

However, reading your response brought two other issues to mind and I wonder now if there may be a glitch in our MLS program: :o

1. There is newlywed couple that recently moved into the ward (whose records were requested by the former membership asst.) and the wife's record did not come to us with the husband's and I had to request it from the administration office. The previous membership assistant had been serving for a few years, so I'm sure he did what he was supposed to do.

2. There is a couple that has a nursery age daughter whose name does not appear on the membership directory. She is shown on the husband's IOS, but not on the wife's IOS, or the household report. She is definitely the wife's child and she was BIC, so I'm quite puzzled about it.

Thanks again for at least making me aware that the original issue is not what is supposed to occur. I will let my membership assistant know that we need to have one of the parents of each new family review their family record when we receive it.
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terrysackett
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#5

Post by terrysackett »

Thanks redzarf. I'll take all the help I can get, and a Ward Clerk site is an outstanding idea.
fraserredmond
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Location: New Zealand

#6

Post by fraserredmond »

SR Ward Clerk wrote:1. There is newlywed couple that recently moved into the ward (whose records were requested by the former membership asst.) and the wife's record did not come to us with the husband's and I had to request it from the administration office. The previous membership assistant had been serving for a few years, so I'm sure he did what he was supposed to do.
Someone else may be able to answer this better than I, but I've been told in the past that if a requested records doesn't come within 2-3 weeks to request it again. So I guess glitches may happen.
SR Ward Clerk wrote: 2. There is a couple that has a nursery age daughter whose name does not appear on the membership directory. She is shown on the husband's IOS, but not on the wife's IOS, or the household report. She is definitely the wife's child and she was BIC, so I'm quite puzzled about it.
My best guess would be the daughter's record doesn't have the correct link to the mother (name, membership number?) She might also need to be added to the household manually (go to the Household tab, and click the Add link.)
russellhltn
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Location: U.S.

#7

Post by russellhltn »

SR Ward Clerk wrote:There is a couple that has a nursery age daughter whose name does not appear on the membership directory. She is shown on the husband's IOS, but not on the wife's IOS, or the household report. She is definitely the wife's child and she was BIC, so I'm quite puzzled about it.
First off, if your not aware of it already, there's a big difference between a marriage/child/parent being recorded on the record and have the records grouped into a household. It's easy if you think about a child that has grown up and now lives away from home. That child will always be on the parent's IOS, but the child won't always be grouped with them. Likewise it's conceivable that a child might be sent away to live with grandparents or some other non-traditional grouping.

With that said, yes, it sounds like something else didn't quite happen right. I think in this case I'd be tempted to call SLC to find out if the child has a record. If they do, then request it. When it arrives you can see if the mother's information is correct and take it from there. The reason I'd call is to make sure that in trying to fix your problem, you're not creating one elsewhere, like a duplicate record.

It's not unusual for the parents of a new child to go to some other ward (such as their parent's ward) to get the child blessed. This results in the blessing being handled by some clerk who doesn't have the membership records and a leadership that may not be as diligent as they should be in getting all the proper paperwork filled out.

Once again, welcome to being a clerk. :D It will keep you busy - at least if you're doing it right. :cool:
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terrysackett
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#8

Post by terrysackett »

Thanks again for all the help everyone. The recording/grouping difference makes sense. I printed the member's copies of the IOSes to have the couple check them, but with General Conference and our stake conference I won't see them for two more weeks. The parents are grouped in the same household, and the child (who definitely has a member record number) is not. She shows on the father's record as his child, but no children are shown on the mother's record. She was born to them in my ward and blessed there (I remember the blessing because the father is my home teacher). I tried to do an "add child" to the mother, but the child's name did not come up in the list, I imagined because she is already attached the father. I will next try to do an "add child" in the Household window as you suggested, RussellHtn.

If it doesn't work, and I can't figure it out after a few more minutes of working on it, I will just call my stake clerk and schedule a time for him to come to the office because I have some other MLS and non-MLS things I'd like him to show me.

When I get it fixed I'll post the solution.

Also, redzarf, the Clerk Responsibilities pages you created are excellent! Very useful, and pretty much "spot on" for clerks in the USA too. The adjustments that you mentioned for a ward's particular preferences would be quite minor, I think. Your list includes and expands upon a list my stake clerk e-mailed to me.

Thanks again for it, and all the help.
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terrysackett
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Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2010 11:58 pm

#9

Post by terrysackett »

Okay, issue solved, but not by me. I asked my stake clerk about it and he made a suggestion, but it didn't work. I ended up sending a message last night to the administration office via MLS and I went over to my clerk's office at noon today and they already fixed the issue and sent me the corrected IOSes, including one for the child.

They didn't say what had happened, but just before I sent the message to them, I had an idea that I think might have been the cause. I'll bet the membership clerk before the last one added the daughter to the father's record instead of creating a new member record, then adding it that way. I was going to create a new member record, but the girl already had a member number and I was afraid I would be "creating" another person in the Church records, so I sent for advice from HQ. All better now. Thanks again to everyone.
SmithGW
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#10

Post by SmithGW »

Let me assure you that the problem you describe happens all the time: a man and woman are married on the records, but not grouped in a household together. I saw it all the time when I was a ward clerk. In all the discussion, it doesn't look like anyone told you what to do if you get the husband and wife as separate records. After you have both records, go to the Membership Records menu (Click MORE on the Membership Records panel). In the View and Update panel, click HOUSEHOLD RECORD. Choose the husband's record from the list and click OK. On the screen that appears, in the Household Members section, click ADD MEMBER. Choose the wife's record from the list. This will group her with the husband, and him as head of house. Next time the husband's record is moved, the wife's will move with it.
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