Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

Discuss questions around local unit policies for membership (creating records, transferring records, etc.) This forum should not contain specific financial or membership information.
mrclary
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 6:01 pm

Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#1

Post by mrclary »

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?
drepouille
Senior Member
Posts: 2859
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:06 pm
Location: Plattsmouth, NE

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#2

Post by drepouille »

See the article in the Help Center:
https://www.lds.org/help/support/create ... hip-record
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#3

Post by eblood66 »

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.
chriswoodut
Member
Posts: 417
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:42 am
Location: Utah

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#4

Post by chriswoodut »

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.
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#5

Post by eblood66 »

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.
chriswoodut
Member
Posts: 417
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:42 am
Location: Utah

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#6

Post by chriswoodut »

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.
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#7

Post by eblood66 »

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).
mrclary
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 6:01 pm

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#8

Post by mrclary »

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.
chriswoodut
Member
Posts: 417
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:42 am
Location: Utah

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#9

Post by chriswoodut »

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.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34384
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Out of Unit Baby Blessing Best Practices

#10

Post by russellhltn »

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.
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.
Post Reply

Return to “Membership Help”