Naming and Blessing: 9 yr old with non-member parents?

[kisaac]

Has anyone blessed and named an older child (9 years old) with two non-member parents? Is it possible in MLS? Why should, or shouldn't we do it?

Her grandparents would like her to have an actual church membership record, until she can be baptized.

At nine, why not just baptize them? Parent will not allow it. The child lives with her non-member father and very active member grandparents. She is very active in primary, and wishes to be baptised, and it was even scheduled at one point, but the father at the last minute decided against it "until she is older, and can make up her own mind."

She is un-intentionally left off birthday lists, primary rolls, etc., because she is not a member. We have already made a non-member record, but that does not give her a birthdate, so she still doesn't show on these list. Also, if she were to leave, her membership record created by a naming and blessing could follow her, where-as the current non-member record would disappear.

The CHI bk 1 does not prohibit naming and blessing a child with two non-member parents, but it doesn't mention specifically this situation, either. It does mention what to do "if either parent" is a non-member.

I'm not asking a church policy question, as we ultimately will direct the question to our stake leaders for approval. I also know that we need to talk with her father, and this is ongoing as well. I am asking if anyone has done this, and is it possible in MLS? Essentially, it would create a "child of record" with two non-member parents.

thanks for your input.

[aebrown]

Has anyone blessed and named an older child (9 years old) with two non-member parents? Is it possible in MLS?

No, it can't be done in MLS. If you try to "Record Child Blessing" or create a "New Child of Record" and the child is 9 or older, you will get a message saying that you can't do this and you have to record it as a Convert Baptism (which of course you can't do in this case for the reasons you explained).

She is un-intentionally left off birthday lists, primary rolls, etc., because she is not a member. We have already made a non-member record, but that does not give her a birthdate, so she still doesn't show on these list.

It's true that a nonmember has no birthdate in the system, and so will not show up automatically in Primary classes or various other lists. But it is possible to manually add her to a Primary class (just go to the Class Members for that class in the Primary organization and click Add Members). That will at least put her on the roll and class list.

Each year, as January 1 comes, all the members will automatically move to the next class. You'll have to move the nonmember to the next class manually. But that's easy enough to do.

[greggo]

I just wanted to add that it makes no difference if the parents are members or not. If the child is over age 8, a record cannot be created via MLS without the person getting baptized.
Also, I'd like to point out that, even if the child was under age 8, to create a record would require written permission from any nonmember parents.

I've stated before, that I wish there was a way to include b-dates for nonmember children so that they can automatically show up in class roles and b-day lists, but the church has not seen fit to allow it (maybe some privacy issue?). I've had many complaints from mothers and youth leaders of those whose fathers won't let them get baptized.

Note, I was able to fool the system in the past by creating out of unit member records in MLS. But subsequent versions of MLS now require a membership number for these.

[kisaac]

No, it can't be done in MLS. If you try to "Record Child Blessing" or create a "New Child of Record" and the child is 9 or older, you will get a message saying that you can't do this and you have to record it as a Convert Baptism (which of course you can't do in this case for the reasons you explained).

Thank you, I wasn't sure if the computer allowed it- now I know it doesn't.

I've stated before, that I wish there was a way to include b-dates for nonmember children so that they can automatically show up in class roles and b-day lists, but the church has not seen fit to allow it (maybe some privacy issue?). I've had many complaints from mothers and youth leaders of those whose fathers won't let them get baptized.

I received a response to a similar message to MLS-Membership - it is a privacy policy to dis-allow birth dates on non-member records, and it was formulated in part due to global privacy restrictions.