Blessing a child who already has a record

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
dwterry-p40
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#11

Post by dwterry-p40 »

nbs2 wrote:I've just ended up in the same situation as the OP. Is there any reason option 2 would not be a good idea?
The information is never set to Church Headquarters. So why go through the trouble of deleting / recreating the record? The information is only used by the local unit clerk to create a certificate to print. So just print a certificate and you're done.
jfackerson
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Location: Longview, Washington, USA

#12

Post by jfackerson »

I've created Record of Membership before blessing was given.
Several months later, I used "Record Child Blessing".
Just be sure to include all existing data using "Find" option which
should include existing Record Number.
Afterwards, blessing will be noted on existing record. Print certificate.
Transmission of this update will not create duplicate Record of Membership.
jbh001
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#13

Post by jbh001 »

geek wrote:Now, I recognize that it's not a saving ordinance, and so it doesn't "matter". And I know that I can just print them a certificate and have the bishop sign it.
nbs2 wrote:I've just ended up in the same situation as the OP. Is there any reason option 2 would not be a good idea?

Bessing information is only stored on the local MLS system (at the unit level) once the record is moved to a new unit, the blessing information is lost. This is also true for baptism and confirmation information. The names of the persons performing those ordinaces are only stored locally and are lost as soon as the record is moved to a new unit.

Therefore, if the record already exists, just print out the certificate, have the bishop/branch president autograph it, hand it to the appropriate family member, and be done with it.
nbs2-p40
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#14

Post by nbs2-p40 »

dwterry wrote:The information is never set to Church Headquarters. So why go through the trouble of deleting / recreating the record? The information is only used by the local unit clerk to create a certificate to print. So just print a certificate and you're done.
jbh001 wrote:Bessing information is only stored on the local MLS system (at the unit level) once the record is moved to a new unit, the blessing information is lost. This is also true for baptism and confirmation information. The names of the persons performing those ordinaces are only stored locally and are lost as soon as the record is moved to a new unit.

Therefore, if the record already exists, just print out the certificate, have the bishop/branch president autograph it, hand it to the appropriate family member, and be done with it.

Fair enough. I was under the impression that the blessing date (if nothing else) would survive a move. Since nothing carries, I'll just do this. Thanks for the help.
egamer25
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Re: Blessing a child who already has a record

#15

Post by egamer25 »

Here's a scenario that has not been brought up. I am the ward clerk and my wife and I finalized our adoption 11 months after the child was born, the temple had me create a 'child of record, for my daughter it had a place to add a blessing. Now the sealing was recorded on her record, but when I go to enter the blessing done the next day on Sunday I can no longer record the blessing. Since I know I can modify baby blessings where I created a new child of record when recording the blessing, (I just did so because I had to correct a date on the other blessing) why can I now not add my baby's blessing on her child of record. I also am a little disturbed that it shows her as being accountable when she is still an infant! I am not satisfied with just printing cert, and going on. There has to be a way to do this!?!?!?!?! A very frustrated father and ward clerk.
russellhltn
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Re: Blessing a child who already has a record

#16

Post by russellhltn »

egamer25 wrote:I also am a little disturbed that it shows her as being accountable when she is still an infant!
This is normal. It's simply a record-keeping thing for dealing with people with intellectual disabilities such that they have no need for baptism. See Handbook 1 16.1.8. The birthdate and current date defines that they are sill an infant.

egamer25 wrote:I am not satisfied with just printing cert, and going on.
Note that the blessing is not recorded on the permanent record. Most likely because it's not a saving ordinance and in the long run does not help future leaders address your daughter's spiritual needs. Any blessing date in MLS will be lost the first time the record is moved out of the ward.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
egamer25
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Re: Blessing a child who already has a record

#17

Post by egamer25 »

thanks for the clarification on the accountability. what is so confusing to me is that before the sealing was recorded by the temple, there was an 'Add Blessing' button and now that the sealing is recorded it's gone, should we have blessed her before the sealing?
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aebrown
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Re: Blessing a child who already has a record

#18

Post by aebrown »

egamer25 wrote:thanks for the clarification on the accountability. what is so confusing to me is that before the sealing was recorded by the temple, there was an 'Add Blessing' button and now that the sealing is recorded it's gone...
One of the main reasons to record a blessing is to create a new membership record for an infant, and since that has already been done, this situation is a bit different from normal. As was mentioned, the recording of a blessing is really a temporary thing, since it doesn't get recorded on the permanent record. So there's no reason to worry about recording the blessing.

If your goal is to print a certificate of blessing, that's a different matter, and can be accomplished without trying to actually record the blessing. Now that you understand that blessings are not permanently recorded, what is it that you are actually trying to accomplish?
egamer25 wrote:should we have blessed her before the sealing?
There is no policy or procedure that dictates that a blessing must occur before or after a sealing; either order is just fine.
russellhltn
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Re: Blessing a child who already has a record

#19

Post by russellhltn »

Long-term, the only thing that matters at this point is printing the certificate.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
Wrog
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Re: Blessing a child who already has a record

#20

Post by Wrog »

I'm glad I found this thread, I am a new clerk and have a baby blessing coming up for a baby that already has a member record. I couldn't find where to add the blessing without creating a new record. I was looking at my record and saw that there was nowhere to see a recorded blessing so I asked the previous clerk and he wasn't aware that there is no way to accomplish this. Now I know that I just need to create the certificate and call it good.
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