Need to Track YSA - Out of Unit

[lajackson]

I don't know about that system. I have never seen any documentation about it. Your surmise seems reasonable, but I have no evidence to confirm or deny that we have a working system in that case.

When a record shows up at Address Unknown, someone from CHQ (usually a senior missionary) makes contact with the nearest relative on the record and tries to obtain a location. For a Young Single Adult, this will be one of the parents.

[scion-p40]

Two decades ago I spent considerable time on the other end of this issue. YSA & young couples who became military members in my area often dropped of the church records radar. I lived & volunteered on a military base, so I had many connections with folks who would help me, including non-LDS chaplains. Parents & various former church leaders would call my ward/stake leaders to give them a heads up about their loved ones, but often did not know their curent address. I did my best to find them, made contact, then got back to the leader. These folks generally were temporarily avoiding church contact, but couldn't quite figure out how to come back by themselves.

[russellhltn]

The process I described often involves communication with the parents. Sometimes the bishop communicates directly with the YSA, if they have left contact information (cell phone, e-mail) behind when they left.

That all sounds more reasonable to me then the picture I had from the first post which seemed to be making a bigger production out of it.

[dotson98]

But there is one other thing - I can understand having responsibility for YSA living in the stake boundaries, regardless of what ward/stake their records are in. But I'd question the need to know about YSA living outside of the boundaries. That's just not the way I understand Church organization. I would recommend checking the Church Handbook of Instructions for guidance on that issue.

This assignment was given to our stake by our Area Authority (I think that's who it was... It was one of the "brethren"). That covers it for me.

All I want to get out of MLS is 1) Person's Name, 2) Person's Parents, 3) Person's DOB. I will use the DOB to determine if the are a YSA. The rest is up to me - contacting the parents to follow up. The data is in the system, but not accessible. In fact, there is a "criteria" field in the custom reports called "Is In Unit". I believe it is used to prevent those ppl who are listed, but are not in the Unit from showing up on any reports.

[supermanforever]

We had a similar assignment in which we had to assess our YSA.

A short survey was created with specific questions. A starting list of YSA was created from MLS and then sent to each bishop. The survey was returned and it created a far more accurate report than the list in MLS. We knew the location of each YSA, their status (some were getting married), their future (some were preparing for a mission), and activity level.

A survey may give you a good start.

[Mikerowaved]

All I want to get out of MLS is 1) Person's Name, 2) Person's Parents, 3) Person's DOB. I will use the DOB to determine if the are a YSA. The rest is up to me - contacting the parents to follow up. The data is in the system, but not accessible. In fact, there is a "criteria" field in the custom reports called "Is In Unit". I believe it is used to prevent those ppl who are listed, but are not in the Unit from showing up on any reports.

I think because you found the criteria "Is in Unit", you believe, "The data is in the system, but not accessible.", meaning there SHOULD be a way to pull all the YSA data out of MLS. AFAIK, this is not correct. Once the records of a YSA (or anyone for that matter) are moved out of the home ward, to a college, military, or any other unit, they are completely GONE from the home ward's MLS database. I have 4 children, 2 married, one YSA in an out-of-state unit, and one in the Army. Loking at my MLS records, you would have no clue we had any children at all.

We had a similar assignment in which we had to asses our YSA.

A short survey was created with specific questions. A starting list of YSA was created from MLS and then sent to each bishop. The survey was returned and it created a far more accurate report than the list in MLS. We knew the location of each YSA, their status (some were getting married), their future (some were preparing for a mission), and activity level.

A survey may give you a good start.

An excellent suggestion. Thanks Kent. (Great username, BTW! )

[russellhltn]

All I want to get out of MLS is 1) Person's Name, 2) Person's Parents, 3) Person's DOB. I will use the DOB to determine if the are a YSA. The rest is up to me - contacting the parents to follow up.

Using custom reports, you can get something close to that for the YSA whose records are in your unit. But you'll have to settle for "Head of Household" rather then "Parent". But if their records are in the unit, you've already got direct contact.

(And by the way, I think you'll find a sizable percentage of your inactive "YSA" are really inactive married. The marriage was never recorded because they are inactive.)

The data is in the system, but not accessible. In fact, there is a "criteria" field in the custom reports called "Is In Unit". I believe it is used to prevent those ppl who are listed, but are not in the Unit from showing up on any reports.

MLS does allow entry of "out of unit members". This is normally the case for Bishops of Singles wards. The Bishop's membership records will remain in his home ward, the student ward would enter the Bishop as a "out of unit member". I think that criteria you are looking at is for that situation, not move-outs.

Members who have moved out are gone. There is a "move out report" that lists those who have left in the last two months. But I seriously doubt that MLS will have any information beyond that time period.

I have 4 children, 2 married, one YSA in an out-of-state unit, and one in the Army. Loking at my MLS records, you would have no clue we had any children at all.

I'll bet if you pull up your individual record and switch to the "children" tab, they'll be there. All you'll see is the Full Name, Birth Date and Record Number. However I know of no way to print out this information in a report (other then the IOS) or export it. Note that this does not tell you if the child is still living or if they are single.

I suppose you can sit down and scroll though the records while sitting on the "children" tab to build a list. But it's going to be a very time and labor consuming task.

This assignment was given to our stake by our Area Authority (I think that's who it was... It was one of the "brethren"). That covers it for me.

Best of luck in your assignment. The report you want just can't be done from MLS. I've outlined the best way I know how. Short of having this GA lean on the membership department for a custom report from their end, I don't see any way the print out you want can be had. Give some thought to organizing the Home Teachers for this. Even with a list in hand it's going to be a big task.

[Mikerowaved]

I'll bet if you pull up your individual record and switch to the "children" tab, they'll be there.

Oops. I musta been thinking of something else. Thanks for the correction.

[russellhltn]

I musta been thinking of something else.

Yeah, you were thinking of "normal" MLS that you look at and can do reports on, not this strange little pocket of info.