Why we do not baptize those with disabilities (those who are NOT accountable)-Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

We should start by saying that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe in baptism by immersion (going fully underwater).  This needs to be done by someone who has priesthood authority.  We do not believe in infant baptism.  We believe in waiting to baptize people until they are old enough to be "accountable" (know right from wrong and able to repent and able to keep the covenants (promises they make).  The age of accountability has been set at age 8. 

If a child or person with disabilities is not accountable (does not know right from wrong and will not be able to repent and live up to the covenants (promises) made at baptism that the person will not be baptized.

This is a collection of church quotes that reference this topic.

We first need to establish that within church lingo that a person with disabilities that is deemed not accountable is the same as when a leader says "infant baptism" or "infant death" which is the same as baptizing children under the age of 8 or children passing away under the age of 8.  They are all interchangeable.

Ensign April 1976 "Should Mentally Retarded Children be Baptized?" by Josiah Douglas 
(please note that this article uses language appropriate from the time period such as "retarded")
The whole article is good and you should read it, here is a quote from it...
The Prophet Joseph Smith described the condition of children who die and have not reached the age of accountability. “And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the Celestial Kingdom of Heaven.” (History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2:381.) Temple ordinances for mentally retarded persons who are deceased, however, are performed on the same basis as they are for any deceased person—without consideration of mental retardation.

General Conference Oct 2012 "Because I live, ye shall live also"  by Elder Shayne M. Bowen
Prophet Joseph Smith, ...taught this comforting doctrine: “The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again.”

Gospel Principles Manual Chapter 20 Page 117 (bold and underline added by the blog author)
Baptism at the Age of Accountability

Who should be baptized?

Every person who has reached eight years of age and is accountable (responsible) for his or her actions should be baptized. Some churches teach that little children should be baptized. This is not in keeping with the teachings of the Savior. When Jesus spoke of little children, He said, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).

The prophet Mormon said that it is mockery before God to baptize little children, because they are not capable of sinning. Likewise, baptism is not required of people who are mentally incapable of knowing right and wrong (see Moroni 8:9–22). All other people are to be baptized. We must receive the ordinance of baptism and remain true to the covenants we make at that time.

Ensign Apr 1977 "The Salvation of Little Children" by Bruce R. McConkie
Note from Blog Author...Joseph F. Smith had 9 of his own children die.    If you read 1 link I post here, have it be this one.  This is a fantastic talk.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith Chapter 15
Note from Blog Author...Joseph F. Smith had 9 of his own children die.    This whole chapter is excellent.  You should really read the entire talk!  There is too much excellent information to copy and paste it here.

Gospel Topics:  Baptism
From latter-day revelation, we know that little children are redeemed through the mercy of Jesus Christ. The Lord said, “They cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me” (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:46–47). They are not to be baptized until they reach the age of accountability, which the Lord has revealed to be eight years of age (see Doctrine and Covenants 68:27; Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 17:11). Anyone who claims that little children need baptism “denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption” (Moroni 8:20; see also verses 8–19, 21–24).

Handbook 2 section 20.1 (Bolding added by Blog author)
The ordinances of baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek Priesthood ordination (for men), the temple endowment, and temple sealing are required for exaltation for all accountable persons.

Bible Dictionary:  Baptism
The age at which baptism should be administered is not specified in the Bible, although it is evident that candidates were to be old enough to be capable of belief and have some understanding. In latter-day revelation we learn that the Lord has set the age at eight years as the time when a person begins to become accountable and can be baptized (D&C 20:71; 68:25–28). This was also the age given in Old Testament times (JST Gen. 17:11 [Appendix]).

General Conference Apr 2016 "Always Retain a Remission of your Sins" by Elder David A. Bednar

As members of the Lord’s restored Church, we are blessed both by our initial cleansing from sin associated with baptism and by the potential for an ongoing cleansing from sin made possible through the companionship and power of the Holy Ghost—even the third member of the Godhead.

(Note from blog author  which are my own thoughts:  Children with disabilities who are unaccountable do not need the initial cleansing from sin, or the ongoing cleansing from sin...they are not accountable.)

General Conference Oct 2010 "Receive the Holy Ghost" by David A. Bednar

The Prophet Joseph Smith explained that “baptism is a holy ordinance preparatory to the reception of the Holy Ghost; it is the channel and key by which the Holy Ghost will be administered. The Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, cannot be received through the medium of any other principle than the principle of righteousness” (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 95–96).

(Note from Blog Author which are my own thoughts:  We lose the holy ghost through sinning.  People who are unaccountable do not sin.  So they do not need the channel/key/medium to open the way for the Holy Ghost.)

General Conference Oct 2010 "Receive the Holy Ghost" by David A. Bednar

These four words—“Receive the Holy Ghost”—are not a passive pronouncement; rather, they constitute a priesthood injunction—an authoritative admonition to act and not simply to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:26). The Holy Ghost does not become operative in our lives merely because hands are placed upon our heads and those four important words are spoken. As we receive this ordinance, each of us accepts a sacred and ongoing responsibility to desire, to seek, to work, and to so live that we indeed “receive the Holy Ghost” and its attendant spiritual gifts. “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift” (D&C 88:33).

(Note from Blog Author which are my own thoughts:  Someone who is unaccountable cannot do these actions, so they would just "have those four words spoken" but not be able to take the "actions".  Since they would not be able to "receive  the gift" they would not rejoice in that which was given, or in the giver of the gift (Christ).)

Moroni 8:  4-24

8 ^aListen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the ^bwhole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little ^cchildren are ^dwhole, for they are not capable of committing ^esin; wherefore the curse of ^fAdam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them...

9 ... it is solemn ^amockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.

10 Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are ^aaccountable and capable of committing sin...

11 And their little ^achildren need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the ^bremission of sins.

12 But little ^achildren are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a ^brespecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

13 Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.

14 Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither ^afaith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.

15 For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

17 And I am filled with ^acharity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and ^bpartakers of salvation.

18 For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is ^aunchangeable from ^ball eternity to all eternity.

19 Little ^achildren cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his ^bmercy.

20 And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the ^aatonement of him and the power of his redemption.

22 For behold that all little children are ^aalive in Christ, and also all they that are without the ^blaw. For the power of ^credemption cometh on all them that have ^dno law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing—

23 But it is mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in ^adead works.

24 Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for ^arepentance is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law.

Mosiah 18:8-9

And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are ^adesirous to come into the ^bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life

(Note from Blog Author which are my own thoughts:  People who are found unaccountable are also typically unable to bear one anothers burdens, mourn with those that mourn, etc...)

Other scriptures about accountability are listed here

How to find respite workers (in Utah) for DSPD/MCCW if using SAS

First let's go over a few definitions:

DSPD:  Division of Services for People with Disabilities.  Also known as the "waiting list".  This is a Medicaid Waiver that allows people with disabilities to qualify for Medicaid based on their disability rather than their income or their parents income.  It also provides for other services such as massage therapy, homemaking and respite.  It is state money matched by federal money.  It is called the waiting list because there are thousands of people that qualify to get on, but there is not enough money approved from the state legislature to fund everyone.

MCCW:  Medically Complex Children's Waiver.  This is a Medicaid Waiver that allows children with disabilities to qualify for Medicaid based on their disability rather than their parents income.  It also provides for very limited respite (ie: 13 hours per month).  To qualify the child needs to have at least 3 organs involved in their diagnosis and see at least 3 specialists.  Applications are usually due in May of each year.

SAS:  Self-Administered Services.  When you qualify for respite through DSPD or MCCW you can choose to have respite workers sent from a company or you can hire the employees yourself.  If you hire the employees yourself then you are doing SAS.  The reasons you would want to use a company would be, you wouldn't need to do hiring/firing/paperwork/approving hours/etc.  Plus if an employee called in sick there is a chance they could send an alternate employee to cover.  The reasons you would want to do SAS are that you have greater control over hiring/firing.  You have greater control over training your employees.  Also, most companies don't have employees that will do more complex medical things such as g-tubes, suctioning, etc.  So your only option is to hire them yourself and train them yourself through SAS.

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Now onto how I find people (in Utah) to do respite for me.

I have used several options in the past such as a flyer at the LDS Institute Building, posting on Facebook and asking friends to share, asking local CNA and Nursing programs (Colleges and Tech schools) to send it out to their current and former students.  These options provided little results.

I also looked into Care.com and KSL classifieds online, but these both cost money, so I never did these options.

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The option that I have been most successful with is a free listing through Indeed.com

First you sign up as an employer.  Then create a job listing.

My job listing was first denied because they have automatic search engines that look for your company address, phone, webpage, etc.  Because it couldn't find anything I got rejected.

On the rejection email it listed a contact person.  I called or emailed them and explained my situation.  He said to list it as the "___________(fill in your last name) Family"  as the company name.  For example the "Smith Family".

Then it had to go through another verification check.

After emailing back and forth several times with my Indeed Contact everything was approved.  I have not had any problems since.  I can just log in and make my new job postings.

So yes, it was kind of a pain the first time, but after that it has not been a problem.

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I usually do 2 or 3 postings.  

#1) Advertising for a CNA or nursing student (sometimes I do these separately)

#2) Advertising for a Caregiver (Most people don't know what a respite worker is)

#3) Advertising for housekeeping

The CNA and Caregiver are both for the respite worker position.  I just get more responses by listing it twice to different demographics of people.  CNA's are nice because they know basic things like bathing, diapering, changing bedding, putting on gloves, etc.  But I can train people to do all of those things anyway and I like having a larger pool of people to choose from.  To be honest 90% of my hires are CNA's or have been CNA's.  But I have trained multiple people from scratch also.

The housekeeping only position will get a TON of responses...waaaaayyyyy more than CNA or respite.  I only do this around October if I have extra hours that I see I won't be able to use up by the end of my fiscal year. Then I hire someone to come in and do housekeeping as a temporary job for a few months until the end of January when my budget resets.  It is nice to have extra housekeeping help for the holidays and it is much easier to find housekeeping help quickly rather than respite workers that have to be trained etc...  During that time that I am using hours with a temporary housekeeper I am also looking for a permanent respite worker to fill more hours.

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I have very strict behavior/dress and grooming standards/household rules.  I make sure to set those forth in the ad itself and reiterate them at every step of the interview process.  This eliminates people who wouldn't be a good fit for me and my family (the prospective employees eliminate themselves if they don't fit the household rules).

I must admit I get some blowback on my standards.  There will always be someone who will message me and say that they are a good person even if they have a tongue piercing.  And I agree, I'm sure they are a good person, I never said they weren't.  But is is my house and they become an example to my kids and so I have decided that the employees need to follow our house dress and grooming rules.

You obviously don't have to have the same standards as me, but if you have specific household or dress and grooming standards that you would like your employees to follow, I would make sure to list them on the Indeed listing and reiterate them throughout the interview process.

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Here is an example of my CNA or Nursing Student posting.  The Caregiver job looks exactly the same except the job title says "Caregiver to a 17 YO girl in her home" and it does not ask if they are a CNA under qualifications.

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When you get to the end of creating your job posting, make sure you select that you just want the free version.  I have never paid and I have gotten plenty of responses.

I have a different email set up for people to email through indeed (I didn't want my real email posted on Indeed).  

After I get the email from indeed saying they have applied for the job, I click on their resume (through indeed) and that gives me their phone number.  I text them and remind them what the job is and ask if they would like a phone interview.

We do a phone interview and then if I like them,  then we do in person interview.

I have found text to be WAAAAAYYYYY more effective than email in finding employees.

After that I decide who to hire, then they do all of the paperwork.

I used to require an application and letters of recommendation before doing any interviews, but this new way of doing 2 interviews first has proven to yield many more applicants that follow through with the interview process.

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Have you tried using Indeed to find respite workers?  How has it worked for you?  Do you have any other tips and tricks to find respite workers?  Please comment below. 

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