thanks for letting us in on this inf. On 11/21/2011 9:43 PM, Edd wrote: > FYI................................Edd Sinnett > > ----- Original Message ----- From:<Dasmi1170@aol.com> To: > <donegaleire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 2:55 PM Subject: > [DONEGALEIRE] [Donegaleire]Social Security in USA changed rules forSS-5 > forms > > > Social Security Administration extends FOIA restriction to 100 years > http://megansmolenyak.posterous.com/social-security-administration-extends-foia-r > (http://megansmolenyak.posterous.com/social-security-administration-extends-foia-r) > > Unfortunately, it’s now official. I have been ordering Social Security > applications for several decades, and have found them especially valuable > over the last decade for assisting with my Army cases. A few years ago, I > noticed that they were starting to block out names of parents on the > applications – which is very unfortunate since that’s the primary reason > for ordering them. Still, the restriction seemed to pertain to > applications for those born from 1940 or so on, and the explanation was > that their parents could still be alive. So though I wasn't keen on it, I > could understand the logic. > > But recently – without any announcement – the Administration extended the > restriction to 100 years – that is, 100 years from the birth of the > applicant, so you can now only obtain this record in an unaltered state for > those born prior to 1912. This letter is in response to one I wrote where > I explained how it would negatively impact the ability to locate soldiers’ > family members and that the parents whose privacy was suddenly being > protected would have to be somewhere on the order of 120 to 150 years old, > if alive. I can apparently receive the full application if I can prove > that the parents are deceased, but 1) that’s a catch-22 since that’s > exactly why I usually ordered the document in the first place, and 2) many > of my cases are for foreign-born soldiers who immigrated to the U.S. so I > would have to seek death certificates from places ranging from Finland to > the Philippines. > > For similar reasons, this perplexingly long restriction will obviously also > affect the 40% of Americans of Ellis Island heritage, which is also > regrettable as this was the best tool for learning the names of the parents > of immigrants so you could then extend your research overseas. I'm very > disappointed in this decision and truly can't grasp what has caused the > Administration to put such a severe restriction in place – far in excess of > that of most states that have limits on death certificate access – but I > wanted to at least let the genealogical community know as it would be > unfortunate for others to spend money needlessly. Because this policy was > never announced, I have spent money on four requests ($27 or $29 each) for > people born in the 19-teens, only to receive documents of no value to me. > You might want to let your friends in the genealogical community know. > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List Announcements can be found at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nbcharlo/nblistann.htm > List home page at: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/CAN/NewBrunswick.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NEWBRUNSWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message