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.
How unfortunate this news is!! Thank- you for posting this information so that others do not send in money needlessly.
Very unfortunate as I needed to order some documents myself.
Thank you for posting this and saving many $
Just another example of our government interfering with our lives and not letting us comment on the issue beforehand.
Thank You for sharing this information.
Rebecca
Interesting that their letter says “under our current policy” – note that they do not claim any legislative authority for the policy. It is very possible that this is a case of public servants operating beyond their mandate, as happened a few years back in Canada when the National Archivist decided on his own not to release the census records when the statute said they were to be released.
I linked to this on my Facebook page and added this comment:
For my genealogy friends: this is important info and very disturbing. If you have an “in” with your congress-critter, you should seriously consider writing a letter. We need them to roll back this change to policy so that the records of our ancestors remain available and useful in our lifetimes!
THIS. SUCKS.
Thank God I already did most of my direct line research before this new rule change went into effect. The SS-5 is — no, *was* — an invaluable tool for me, especially because I am one of the people, as you are correct to call out, “of Ellis Island heritage” who would often not have otherwise been able to find out this information.
What if the person I am researching has parents who did not immigrate and were then killed in the Holocaust? How am I supposed to go find their death certificates, of which none usually exist, to prove to the SSA that I can request their surviving adult child’s SS-5? How the hell is that supposed to work?
Is there someone at the SSA we can petition to undo this stupidity?
In the meantime, I say we flood the two options presented in your letter, either US district court or the OGIS mediation services, with requests for overturning the SSA’s overly restrictive decisions. Then maybe the point will be made.
How terrible! I currently have 3 application requests out! I’ve been waiting three months on the first two sent out. This is seriously going to affect one avenue of research when looking for information on a person’s parentage!
I agree with Brooke, for some this was the only way to locate parentage.
Really too bad.
I think that we should all write our congressmen and women and tell them that not only is this unfair but it is also cutting off a stream of income. Which as everyone knows our government desperately needs. Maybe that would be more effective than trying to go thru the courts which we can also do at the same time.
If enough of us flood both congress, the OGIS and the district court maybe our voices will be heard and we can get the information that we need.
Thanks for telling us about the stupidity of our government where they keep taking away our rights and their stream of income.
I requested a copy of a social security SS-5 form, to learn what the name of a person’s relatives, but neither name shown due to a felt tip, black marker, across each name.
As most other readers, I also have been ordering SS-5 forms from the SSA for years and have found this latest news unfortunate. But even worse, is my story. I received a similar letter from the SSA whereby they deleted the names of the parents. I requested the SS-5 for my Uncle – so I know his parents and dates of birth, death, etc. Upon my receipt of the deleted information, the SSA allows an appeal of their the decision – so I did. And I provided evidence of my Uncle’s birth, parent’s marriage, death. A few weeks went by and the SSA again sent me a letter denying my appeal! I am still shking my head in disbelief. I am now attempting to contact the OGIS Mediation service for their help.
I just got one back after 3 month and the parents names are black out. My person was born in 1918. His father in 1875. would he be alive. And if I had the names I do not need the ss-5.
I understand that the Social Security Administration recently changed its policy on the release of records related to the SS-5. See http://jewishgen.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html
As one commenter noted, “What if the person I am researching has parents who did not immigrate and were then killed in the Holocaust? How am I supposed to go find their death certificates, of which none usually exist, to prove to the SSA that I can request their surviving adult child’s SS-5?”
Especially where the adult child is nearing 100 years old (and deceased), the SSA policy makes no sense. How many parents of such people would still be alive at age 120 or 130?
Please review this SSA policy. It makes no sense, and causes needless heartache to Holocaust survivors and their families.
Thank you.
I recently submitted this question to the Office of Government Information Services:
I understand that the Social Security Administration recently changed its policy on the release of records related to the SS-5. See http://jewishgen.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html
As one commenter noted, “What if the person I am researching has parents who did not immigrate and were then killed in the Holocaust? How am I supposed to go find their death certificates, of which none usually exist, to prove to the SSA that I can request their surviving adult child’s SS-5?”
Especially where the adult child is nearing 100 years old (and deceased), the SSA policy makes no sense. How many parents of such people would still be alive at age 120 or 130?
Please review this SSA policy. It makes no sense, and causes needless heartache to Holocaust survivors and their families.
Thank you.
The politicians that make these rules have never done genealogy. They find it useless and therefore think that anyone who does this is crazy. They always are making rules that do not solve the real problem. It has happened to the airline industry in the patting down of innocent travelers. The real criminals always seem to get around the rules and regulations and do the damage that the rules are intended to stop. The politicians need to research before they so quickly sign such rules but they can’t be bothered to that sort of thing. They seem to be too busy with their misconducts and greed to do the job that they were intended to do. When I have written them, I have gotten either no response or responses that do not even answer what I wrote.
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What, the Banks and other money orgamizations are too stupid to log onto the SSDI to check the numbers of dead people against some bogus number a crook is trying to use? Are they too cheap to subscribe to Ancestry so they can make the checks. They ask people with new accounts a bunch of personal questions, so why can’t they run a check to make sure the SS# is valid?
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What are they trying to protect anyway? The person who made the ss application provided a lot of information which, if they were still alive, could be used for identity theft (hence the reason for the ssdi index). But all you’re “compromising” on the parents is their names and the fact that they long ago had a child. Long enough ago, in fact, that if they were American this already appears in the census, which in 90 days or so I can freely look at. I don’t have a problem with hiding the parents’ names in post-1940 births but 100 years is crazy.
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As per usual the FEW have ruined it for the many. Always it is those few ROTTEN applies that spoil the batch. I too, am saddened to hear that this is going to happen. No longer available save 100 years back from birth date. Granted, not all of us wish to find out relatives, parent names, afer that date. But that is what genealogy is all about. Attempting to find parent names. however, do NOT forge the census records. They are a wealth of information and so far, as available every 10 years. Just hope that they may NOT decide to begin withholding those too, for 100 years from date of birth? Could happen.
Patricia
cw
Thank you.
The Guinness web site has this to say about the longest living male ever (no mention of oldest female):
Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand ‘Christian’ Mortensen (Denmark/USA, b. 16 August 18¬82, d. 25 April 1998) died aged 115 years 252 days. He is the only Nordic person to live beyond the age of 113.
New evidence has come to light that casts doubt on the long-standing longevity record held by Shigechiyo Izumi (Japan). The birth certificate submitted as evidence might actually belong to his older brother, who died at a young age; if the family used Izumi as a ‘necronym’¬ that is, gave him his dead brother’s name, as the new research suggests ¬ this means his final age was 105 years old, not 120. The title of oldest man ever, then, passes to Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand ‘Christian’ Mortensen.