5. Information Sources
5.3. SOCIAL SERVICES INFORMATION SOURCES
Searching Social Service Agency Records
Many clients receive General Relief (GR), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), or other forms of public assistance. If your client has children, he or, most likely, she may receive TANF or WIC (Women, Infants, and Children - a nutrition program). TANF may go by another name in your state; for example in California it goes by the name CalWorks and there are related programs called GAIN and Work Fare. Also, your client may use the services of the public health agency or receive visits from public health nurses. It is a good idea to acquaint yourself with these public assistance programs because many of them require monthly visits to their offices. The County Government pages of your local telephone book will give numbers for various social service agencies under the heading "Public Social Services Department." You can contact the caseworkers at the local offices directly if you know that the client either lives in or receives payments from that district. If this information is not available, a call to the central office can establish which office handles the client's case.
You should also consider local non-profit (non-governmental) assistance agencies. The local food pantry, church charity, or other agency may also be willing to forward a letter to your client. Many religious organizations in urban areas have non-profit arms that provide services to the needy, so be sure to find out about all the services providers in your area. (For a listing of agencies that work with the homeless, see Chapter 6.)
For public services, once you have the correct district office, call and ask to speak to the caseworker. You probably will not be able to obtain the client's address and phone number directly from the caseworker, as this violates client confidentiality, but if a client is currently receiving public assistance, the caseworker will be able to forward a letter.
The appropriate procedure is to put your letter to the client in an envelope, stamp it, but leave it unsealed, and put the client's name on the outside. Then seal that envelope into a slightly larger one and address it to the caseworker. The caseworker can add the client's address to the inner envelope and mail it to the client. Provide the phone number of the project and a message to pass on to the client in case he or she comes into the service agency office in person. Keep in close contact and follow up with the caseworkers; they are very busy, and these requests will not be high on their list of priorities. It is helpful to establish a good relationship with a key person in these offices. This can later pave the way to fast and efficient assistance.
Caseworkers have to protect the confidentiality of their clients, but they may provide you with valuable "hints" nonetheless. One case worker told our tracker, "That case is not in our jurisdiction. Try County B. " The tracker checked the phone listings for County B and found our client.
NOTE: The prefix (first three digits) of a Social Security Number (SSN) is issued according to the state in which the applicant is living when the number is applied for. A state-by-state listing of Social Security Numbers can be found in Appendix G. If the client you are searching for has an out-of-state SSN, it may be useful to search phone directories and data bases in that state because the client may have returned there. |
Social Security Forwarding System
For difficult-to-locate clients, especially those out of state, you can arrange with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to forward a letter indexed by Social Security number. This can be done for all missing clients; however, letters will be forwarded only to those who have had their Social Security number reported for some reason, such as through employment, disability support, or credit application. This is a highly confidential process and the Social Security Administration guidelines must be strictly met. SSA will forward for the general public, if there is a humanitarian reason. Information on these policies is located at: http://ww w.ssa.gov/foia/ltrfwdi n g.htm
SSA also cooperates in forwarding letters for health follow-ups and surveys. (See SSA Program Operations Manual System [POMS], Section GN 03309.265 Health Follow-Ups and Surveys: http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/ a boutpoms.) This service charges $3.00 per person to be contacted. According to this policy, the letter to be forwarded must be short and innocuous, informing the missing person only that you wish to get in touch with him/her. There can be nothing in the letter that might embarrass the intended recipient if the letter were read by a third party. There should be no mention of any disease or disability for which the person may have been treated either in the body of the letter or the letterhead, and no questionnaire may be enclosed. The client letter must be placed in a plain, unsealed, unstamped envelope with the client's full name and social security number written legibly on the front of the envelope. Nothing of value should be enclosed. Do not put a return address on the envelope, and do not stamp it "ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED," or Social Security will not forward the letter.
These requests are placed in a larger envelope accompanied by a cover letter to the Social Security Administration (see Appendix E). The letter to SSA should include the missing person's Social Security number or identifying information to help find the number. The identifying information needed is the person's date and place of birth, father's name, and mother's full birth name. If you would like SSA to inform you that a person is deceased, include that information in your letter to SSA. Usually, SSA forwards a letter in care of the employer who most recently reported earnings for the missing person. SSA would have a current home address only if the person is receiving benefits. SSA cannot assure that a letter will be delivered or that a reply will be received.
Social Security will add the client's full address to the envelope, if they have one, and mail it out. There is no way of knowing which clients receive their letters and which do not. It is recommended that this procedure be done in a single mailing to SSA for all missing clients for whom a Social Security number is available. SSA will follow through with this procedure only one time for each client, so it is best to wait until other locating procedures have been exhausted.
Requests for letter forwarding should be sent to:
Social Security Administration
Letter Forwarding
P.O. Box 33022
Baltimore, MD 21290-3002
| NOTE: The Social Security Administration charges $3.00 per letter. You will need to include payment with your request. |