WARNING PUBLIC INQUIRIES/ AVISO PUBLIC INQUIRIES!!!

[Sad_Aspie]

Dear friends,

My name is Adrian Nunez-Martinez and I'm currently searching family members José Manuel Fernández Álvarez and María del Amor Fernández Álvarez whom we lost contact with some years ago : http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2801

The reason of mine opening this thread is to warn you about some incomplete information about the State Service Public Inquiries contained in the webpage of the Spanish General Consulate in Miami.

In order to make it clear as well as pleasant I'm going to illustrate it with my own story: It was July 2008 and I was in the beginnings of my search: It was the first time I ever searched anybody and I had absolutely no idea where to start from... maybe the Consulate? That's the first institution people think of in these situations. Well, the Spanish General Consulate in Miami was my first option: I sent them an email explaining the whole issue and asking them whether they could help me. The rest of July went by... and so did August... and September... and I didn't get any answer. Then I decided to resend them the very same email again and in 48 hours I received a reply in which they said that they couldn't help me and that I should address the US Embassy in Madrid , more specifically the Consular Section: I sent them a detailed letter explaning them the whole issue and asking them whether they could help me. In 10 days I received a letter in which they said that they could not help me either. OKKKK, what should I do next? I remembered that in the webpage of the Spanish Consulate there was a mention to a service called Public Inquiries, the extract translated into English would be something like this:

"In the US there is a State Service called “Public Inquiries” to whom anybody with a legitimate interest can address, requesting information about their missing relatives.

It is indispensable to provide the following information in English: name and surname, name of parents, date and place of birth and any other piece of data which could ease the search, and send it to:

Social Security Administration
Office of Public Inquiries
Room 4-C-5 Annex
6401 Security Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland, 21235"
 
As the guys from the Spanish Consulate put it in here it seems that you just send all the available data of your lost relatives and Public Inquiries would find them for you, private detective’s way, which is very far from reality.

In fact the correct information comes on this other link: http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/ ... e/Lost.htm

The problem with the extract from our friends of the Spanish Consulate General in Miami is that they do not mention that -along with all that data in the form of a cover letter- you have to include AN UNSEALED LETTER for the people you be searching.  And THAT IS THE POINT, what the guys from Public Inquiries do is finding the people you're looking for and HANDING THEM THAT LETTER, that's all. Then your relatives may choose to contact you or not, it's up to them.

Now I find myself in a difficult situation: I already sent Public Inquiries a detailed letter on the 20th of October 2008 exposing all the available data I had on the family members I am searching, but I did not enclose the unsealed letter as I had no notice of that at the moment. So I guess I'll have to contact them again, telling them that I had the wrong information and sending them again the cover letter with the detailed information, this time along the unsealed letter.

Sooooooo, my dear friends, just to sum up: if you are searching some friends/relatives and you are thinking on making use of Public Inquiries remember that along with the cover letter explaining your relationship you have to include an UNSEALED LETTER which is a letter you write to the family members you are searching where you introduce yourself and give contact information so your relatives could get in touch with you if that's their wish. Both of them have to be written in English. Honestly, I still cannot figure out how the guys from the Spanish Consulate General in Miami could have omitted the unsealed letter since it's the most important element in the whole process.

The fact that the letter had to be unsealed and in English seems quite rational to me if just for the issue of security:  they have to revise it to make sure that the content is appropiate (someone might use this service to threaten) and also to ensure the physical security of the person  searched:  any dangerous substance could be introduced in the letter.

Well, I hope that this information be useful to all of you and that now anybody willing to make use of Public Inquiries does it the right way.

P.S. If you think about it, the misleading information came out from the Spanish side and if I realised of the truth it was only thanks to an American source... so unusual... Spaniards: Yes We Can!!! (grow bananas).

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Queridos Amigos:

Me llamo Adrián Núñez Martínez y actualmente estoy buscando a mis familiares José Manuel Fernández Álvarez y María del Amor Fernández Álvarez con quienes perdimos el contacto hace ya años: http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2801

La razón de que abra este hilo es para advertirles sobre una información incompleta acerca del Servicio Estatal Public Inquiries mencionada en la página web del Consulado General de España en Miami.

Con la intención de exponer el asunto de la manera más clara y amena posible he decidido ilustrarlo con mi propia historia: era julio de 2008 y me encontraba en los inicios de la búsqueda: era la primera vez que intentaba encontrar a alguien y por lo tanto no tenía ni idea de por dónde comenzar... ¿quizás el Consulado? Suele ser la primera institución en la que piensa la gente en estas circunstancias... el Consulado General de España en Miami fue mi primera opción: les envié un correo electrónico a principios de julio exponiéndoles el caso y preguntando amablemente si podían ayudarme... pasó todo julio... agosto... y septiembre... y no recibía ninguna respuesta. Entonces les volví a enviar el mismo mail y a las 48 horas recibí como respuesta que no me podían ayudar y que debía dirigirme a la US Embassy in Spain , más específicamente a la Consular Section, lo cual hice. A los diez días recibí una carta en la que me comunicaban que no me podían ayudar ... Descartada la opción diplomática... ¿qué hacer? Entonces recordé que en la página web del Consulado General de España en Miami se hacía una mención a un servicio llamado Public Inquiries, el extracto es el siguiente:


"En EE.UU existe tambien un servicio público denominado "Public Inquiries", al que  cualquier persona con un interés legítimo puede dirigirse, solicitando información sobre familiares desaparecidos.
Es imprescindible facilitar la siguiente información en inglés: nombre y apellidos, nombre del padre y de la madre, fecha y lugar de nacimiento, además de cualquier otro dato que pueda facilitar la búsqueda de la persona, y remitirla a:

Social Security Administration
Office of Public Inquiries
Room 4-C-5 Annex
6401 Security Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland, 21235"

Tal como los del Consulado de España lo ponen aquí parece que uno sólo tenga que enviar los datos que disponibles acerca de sus familiares y los de Public Inquiries los encuentren para ti cual detective privado, lo que está muy lejos de la realidad.

De hecho si me di cuenta de lo que hay que hacer realmente fue gracias a este enlace: http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/ ... e/Lost.htm

El problema con el extracto de nuestros amigos del Consulado General de España en Miami es que no mencionan que -junto a esa información en una cover letter- hay que incluir UNA CARTA SIN CERRAR dirigida a las personas que se esté buscando. Y ése es EL QUIZ DE LA CUESTIÓN, lo que el personal de la Seguridad Social Estadounidense (división Public Inquiries) hace es -tras localizar a esas personas- les entregan LA CARTA SIN CERRAR: eso es todo, ahí termina su trabajo. Luego ya es decisión de las personas buscadas el contactar contigo o no.

El hecho de que la carta tenga que estar sin cerrar y en inglés me parece totalmente racional debido a motivos de seguridad: la carta debe ser revisada para asegurarse que el contenido es apropiado (alguien podría utilizar el servicio para amenazar) y también para garantizar la integridad física de la persona buscada.

Espero que esta información les haya sido de utilidad y que a partir de ahora quien quiera hacer uso del servicio Public Inquiries lo haga de la manera correcta.