Tech Forum

What criteria do you use to move a membership record out from a household and create a new Head of Household?

We are trying to focus on the transition that young men and young women make going from the YM/YW organization to Priesthood and Relief Society. When we pulled reports on YSA members, we discovered that we have a mix of memebers still being listed with their parents and some as head of household, some beng lsited with thier parents are in their mid-20s.

Depending on the whim of the ward clerk, if the member left home to go to school and them came back home, some membership records were accepted back into the ward as a head of household others were put back into their parent's houshold.

Our biggest concern are those that are less active when their records stay as a child record under the parents. Home Teachers and Visiting Teachers vist the 'Household' but many times the inactive child is not there and does not get any church contact.

We are thinking that if we could come up with a process to identify when to move child membership records out from the parents household and create a Head of Household record for the child, it will allow the Priesthood and Relief Society to assign home teachers and visiting teachers to them.

Our delima is when should a child membership record be convereted to a head of household record? As soon as they are eligible to attend Priesthood or Relief Society meetings (18 and out of high school)? Wait until after their missions or leave for school? What if they don't go to college or go on a mission?

I think it's safe to say that if the child isn't living with the parents, except in maybe rare circumstances, they shouldn't be grouped with the parents.

This is a situation that's up to the Bishop (not the clerk). However the best suggestion I've seen is that one the child leaves, they would not be re-grouped with the parents, even they move back home. But that's just a suggestion based on prior threads on the subject.

Now, that said, when I was a membership clerk for a student Ward, there were times I moved them out with "regroup with parents" since the record needed to be moved out, but I didn't know where the parents where.

I think you are looking at all the important factors when making a decision of this nature. I think a clerk has the responsibility to counsel with the Bishop about those individuals elegible to be their own head of household and let the Bishop make the decision case by case. Establishing a standard to fit all situations is just not practical.

Personally, I think making an adult child their own head of household even when living at home with parents has benefits that outweigh the detriments, especially when the welfare of the adult child needs separate attention. So to me that means that when an adult child transitions from YM/YW they should be seriously considered to be their own head of household.

RussellHltn wrote:the best suggestion I've seen is that one the child leaves, they would not be re-grouped with the parents, even they move back home. But that's just a suggestion based on prior threads on the subject.

I like this suggestion, but if the returned child is on a mission (or about to be), I would group them with the parents.

Greggo wrote:I like this suggestion, but if the returned child is on a mission (or about to be), I would group them with the parents.

My general rule of thumb for becoming a separate household (when I flag it for the wards as stake membership clerk) is the September 1st after the 18th birthday. Exceptions include serving missionaries (I tend to look the other way for elders age 19-22 unless I know they aren't out on missions); diminished mental capacity (whether baptized or not accountable); those in the military whose records the ward is supposed to sit on (usually in basic training.)

Usually our stake's YSA branch (or a ward at one of the Church schools) lassos in a record right around the end of August, or not long after a missionary returns home, so for the more active YSA it isn't a problem. When we went to MLS nearly six years ago, though, my stake had around 350 "children" 18+ linked to parents. That number is greatly diminished now, but I still try to be vigilant about it as we still have some 40-somethings linked to parents.

Usually the hangup is linking missionaries back with parents. Then there's the multi-generation household one ward has . . .

The rule of thumb we've always used is "on their own", and yes, that's subjective. I'm not sure that a college student living with mom and dad or a missionary applies. Certainly, turning 18 is no automatic qualifier. If Mom and Dad are still paying for car insurance and a cell phone, can the kid really call himself the head of his own household?

Our stake's policy is to pull the records of all youth to the YSA when they graduate from high school. Most of them will be made head of household in May or June and moved unless there is some factor that makes that unwise. It does get interesting when they graduate before their 18th birthday - there are privacy rules in place in MLS and they are still listed as Young Men/Women. The Action and Interview report shows them as needing the semi-annual interviews still. We have to re-assign them to the Elders Quorum and Relief Society as appropriate.

The cool thing about this is we have an annual injection of these excited, energetic youth every year for about three months before they head off for school. Gives them a chance for some independent church activity and callings while many are still at home. Down side is our attendance plummets every September (about 27 percent).

Depending on the whim of the ward clerk, if the member left home to go to school and them came back home, some membership records were accepted back into the ward as a head of household others were put back into their parent's houshold.

Well, I'd say that the clerk should be inspired enough to do the right thing practically everytime. One gets a 'feel' for what is going on with each member's case.

Having said that as a proviso, I'd think that if we don't move away the records of missionaries in the field nor ungroup them as single head of households when serving in some mission overseas, then we probably shouldn't ungroup a family because a 21 or 25 year old is away for a semester studying. So if Home teaching is assigned they would be seen as part of the normal family when they are back home during breaks.

Maybe the rule of thumb should be to only make them HoH when they firmly declare that they have moved 'out of home' and are working or self supporting or marry. But if they are going home to get their washing done or to eat a proper meal that mum makes, then surely they shouldn't be HoH, in my opinion.

charly3358 wrote:Maybe the rule of thumb should be to only make them HoH when they firmly declare that they have moved 'out of home' and are working or self supporting or marry. But if they are going home to get their washing done or to eat a proper meal that mum makes, then surely they shouldn't be HoH, in my opinion.

If someone is not living under the same roof as his or her parents (especially for three months or more), he/she most certainly should be a separate household because his/her address is different. We have to at least make an effort to close the barn doors before the horse bolts, not wait until we are absolutely sure the horse is gone. (See my post above about 40-somethings still grouped with their parents.)

charly3358 wrote:Having said that as a proviso, I'd think that if we don't move away the records of missionaries in the field nor ungroup them as single head of households when serving in some mission overseas, then we probably shouldn't ungroup a family because a 21 or 25 year old is away for a semester studying. So if Home teaching is assigned they would be seen as part of the normal family when they are back home during breaks.

The records of missionaries usually stay in their home ward in order to facilitate the finances, mission applications, temple recommends, etc. I have always made them their own head of house in the past and have never run afoul of the bishop or stake presidency. When the person goes to college and/or to a YSA unit, they have to be made the head of house or grouped with someone else in that unit. The YSA is responsible for home/visiting teaching that individual. We have a good share of our branch that leave for school (and have their records transferred to the ward there) and then come back to the branch for summer. They don't go back to the family ward except in unusual circumstances. Our stake has made it clear that they expect them to go to the branch unless there is some issue that makes that not possible. We have several members that live at home and have significant mental and physical disabilities. They are still at the branch and it is gratifying to see the other "normal" kids step up to include them.