9 Year Old Baptism

[barnold-p40]

Hopefully you can help me with a question. Last week a 9 year old child in our ward was baptized and confirmed. When I went to enter the information in MLS under the child of record baptism tab it would not let me because of the age of the child. It directed me to the convert baptism tab. However, when I start to enter the information under the convert baptism tab, once the name is entered, it recognizes the name as someone on the ward roster. It then asks if I am sure I am not creating a duplicate record. If I say no I cannot enter the info. If I say yes it allows me to enter the info. but goes through all information such as address, parents, etc. It then ends up creating a second record on the same person. Each record has its own different record number. I am sure we should not have two records on the same person. I can always cancel the original record, but is that proper? If I do that then this child will have a new record number. I have email administration on the question but thus far have not received a response. Do you know how to properly enter information on an overage child without making a duplicate record for that person. Thanks for any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

[jdlessley]

A child baptized or confirmed after the age of 9 (after their 9th birthday) is a convert baptism and must be recorded by the mission office. See the wiki article Recording ordinances.

Edit: I did not ask whether the child already had a record and not just a temporary record. If the record is a temporary record then the information provided above is correct. If the record is a member record because they are a child of record then you can enter the baptism in MLS following the instructions in the MLS help for "Child with Record Baptism". A new member record would not be created for the child of record situation.

[barnold-p40]

Thank You for your help and time. That is exactly the answer I needed.

[alan.richardson]

If the child was previously a "Child of Record", then having the missionaries record his/her record number on the baptismal paperwork they send to the mission office will help link the two records (and then your existing record will be updated with the new baptism and confirmation information).

Staying in close contact with the FTMs so that the paper they submit is correct helps prevent problems in the future (and having to be fixed later).