Can another ward/branch create member record for our ward?

[perrychee]

We received a record for a new baby. No prior unit. Both parents names are listed.

Baby's father was baptized in our ward years ago (so no prior unit) and has since moved without leaving new address. We still have his record.

Baby's mother is not member of our ward/stake.

We'll probably end up sending both father's and baby's records to HQ. Current residents don't know anything. Web and public record searches don't show either parent.

Question is: Who created the baby's record? I guess a ward can create a new record then send it to ours. But we don't know who. How can we find out where the record came from? We want to contact the prior unit and hopefully send the records to the right place.

[aebrown]

Question is: Who created the baby's record? I guess a ward can create a new record then send it to ours. But we don't know who. How can we find out where the record came from? We want to contact the prior unit and hopefully send the records to the right place.

Yes, a ward can create a record for a child of your ward member. In fact, that's the way things should be done when the blessing is performed in another ward (see "Blessing a child from another ward" in the MLS Software Manual) -- the record is created by the other ward, but since the parents don't live in your ward, the record is actually created in your ward. So the other ward never had the record, and thus didn't send it to you, and that is why there is no prior unit.

I don't think there's any way for you to tell where the record came from in MLS, but I'm sure that Church headquarters has records that would show where the record was created. I would recommend that you call Local Unit Support for assistance. The baby may not live in that ward either, but at least you could start tracking down where the records should go by starting there.