Tech Forum

I have an 8-year old child who was recently baptized. Her mother previously withdrew her membership from the church, which might have also included this child, although I'm not sure the child had a record or not. The mother has not been re-baptized at this time, so this child would be the only one in the family is is a baptized member. How should I record this ordinance? If I just create a new record, am I at risk for creating a duplicate record, or will MLS know from the name and birthdate that this person's record is being restored? Or does someone above my authority as the Ward Clerk need to intervene?

Even if the record has been removed, the duplication would only exist at Church headquarters (in the CMIS system). MLS will have no idea if there is a record being restored -- MLS simply submits the record and gets a new membership record number (MRN) back. I think you can safely assume that if CHQ cares about a duplicate, they will detect the situation and reactivate that MRN. Either way, you won't know -- you'll just get a MRN back. So I don't think you need to worry about it -- just work through the normal process.

You can call Local Unit Support and see if they can look for you. Or you can request the child's record to see if it comes in. If you request the record after you've processed the baptism, then you can merge the records.

I would take the step of checking for a record as it may cause problems down the road. Part of the responsibility of a clerk is to insure the ward member's records are in good order.