Tech Forum

I have a family that lost their child before birth but they gave her a name and would like the record put into mls. What is the best way to handle this?

Families are free to record stillborn children on their Family Group Records for genealogical purposes, but stillborn children are not recorded on church membership records.

Clerks can also use the special request feature in MLS to get the child listed on the parents records. The process in set out in the wiki article Stillborn.

rontilby wrote:Families are free to record stillborn children on their Family Group Records for genealogical purposes, but stillborn children are not recorded on church membership records.

Source? I spent several hours today scouring the Handbook. I found references confirming that Temple ordinances are not performed for them and that they are free to enter them on their family group records, but I found nothing either way about them being entered on membership records.

rontilby wrote:Families are free to record stillborn children on their Family Group Records for genealogical purposes, but stillborn children are not recorded on church membership records.

I don't disagree, but given the circumstances, I think we need to find the relevant sections of the policy to back that position.

IIRC, In Family History, babies who never take a breath are not considered children for purposes of doing work for the dead. But if the child lived after birth, however short, it is handled as a child who died under the age of 8. But again, that's Family History. And while I hesitate to apply that to records for the living, I think it gives me an idea of what the answer is. It's going to be a few hours before I can crack open the manuals to see what I can find.

cottrells wrote:Clerks can also use the special request feature in MLS to get the child listed on the parents records. The process in set out in the wiki article Stillborn.

Interesting. If CHQ processes it when it's clearly spelled out in the message as stillborn it would seem valid.