Adoptions

Discuss questions around local unit policies for membership (creating records, transferring records, etc.) This forum should not contain specific financial or membership information.
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Forrest-p40
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Adoptions

#1

Post by Forrest-p40 »

i've never had this happen before, so i could use some help..

i have a single sister in the ward who has been a foster parent for many years, she recentlly legally adopted two of the children. what exactly are the steps i need to take to make this legal on the church records? (and no, they haven't been blessed or baptized, they are non members).

thanks for any help
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

I think if you check the Help section of MLS, under normal adoptions, you can enter them just like birth parents. Not sure about the situation with a single sister.
odyssey-p40
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#3

Post by odyssey-p40 »

I recently adopted 2 girls from Russia. We were told that they needed to be blessed or baptized to be put into the computer. This came up when we discovered that they were not on the rolls in primary, since they were not in the computer.
russellhltn
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#4

Post by russellhltn »

odyssey wrote:I recently adopted 2 girls from Russia. We were told that they needed to be blessed or baptized to be put into the computer. This came up when we discovered that they were not on the rolls in primary, since they were not in the computer.
Unless I'm all wrong, Blessing not required - only permission.

The problem here is setting them up as children when there is no adoptive father. That part I'm not sure of. But it setting them up as members of the household shouldn't be an issue.
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opee
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Blessing is not necessary to create record

#5

Post by opee »

odyssey wrote:I recently adopted 2 girls from Russia. We were told that they needed to be blessed or baptized to be put into the computer. This came up when we discovered that they were not on the rolls in primary, since they were not in the computer.


If you read the information at the top of the form for Creating a Membership Record/Blessing of a child (under FORMS in MLS), it says that it is not necessary to bless a child to create a membership record. You would need the parental permission as RussellHltn stated.
russellhltn
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#6

Post by russellhltn »

To answer the original question, this is from the MLS Help file:
The bishop should verify that all legal requirements have been completed before you record adoptions. Do not send legal documents to the administration office.
*
If the adopted child has a membership record:
*
Update the child's record by showing child and parent names as they should appear, according to the adoption documents. Use the option View and Update—Individual Record.
*
Return to "Update Individual Record."
*
If the adopted child does not have a membership record:
*
Create a membership record for the child listing the adoptive parents as his parents, as shown on the adoption documents. Use the option Create Records—New Child of Record.
It still doesn't answer the issue of a single adoptive parent. In testing, it seems possible to create a record with no father, but you have to deal with a lot of MLS complaints.
dotson98
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Single Parent

#7

Post by dotson98 »

I recently added a child of record for a single mother. The child resulted from a very bad situation, and the mother did not want the father listed. MLS complained a little, but it was no big deal.
embunker
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#8

Post by embunker »

We had a situation where a child was BIC, but not long after dad split. The child after a divorce and remarriage of the mother in the temple was adopted by the stepfather. One of my clerks wanted to know if we put the name down of the father the child was sealed to or adopted by. Clearly the adoption takes precedence even though children are never re-sealed to the adoptive parent
The_Earl
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#9

Post by The_Earl »

embunker wrote:We had a situation where a child was BIC, but not long after dad split. The child after a divorce and remarriage of the mother in the temple was adopted by the stepfather. One of my clerks wanted to know if we put the name down of the father the child was sealed to or adopted by. Clearly the adoption takes precedence even though children are never re-sealed to the adoptive parent
1. I would ask your Stake President, or Bishop what to do.
2. You might get better response if you create a new thread instead of tacking your question to the bottom of this one
3. I have no idea what you should do

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The Earl
russellhltn
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#10

Post by russellhltn »

embunker wrote:Clearly the adoption takes precedence even though children are never re-sealed to the adoptive parent
I believe that would be correct. I would have no issue with following the procedures for adoption and updating the records to show the adoptive father as the father of the child.
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