Can you find my child's parent so I can get child support?
Question
I am trying to locate the parent of my child to establish or enforce a support order. What resources are available to help me find the person?
Answer
State Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies have access to information from state resources such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Employment agency. They also can get information from the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) which is a national network that provides address and employment information to the states.
The FPLS is used to locate parents to establish or enforce a child support order and to help find someone who has hidden the whereabouts of a child in violation of a custody or visitation order. The service is only available through the state/local CSE program.
Among the resources that the FPLS can use are: The Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Defense, and the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH). Employers must now report hiring new employees to the state within twenty days. The state in turn sends that information, and information from the state unemployment office, to the NDNH. This information is available to CSE agencies throughout the country.
A parent or an attorney can ask for "locate only" services through the state CSE agency, but the FPLS cannot give information directly to individuals. Your CSE agency is the best source of information about state laws and practices and about your case. Links to the state CSE websites are at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/extinf.html Or you can call the State CSE agency. State CSE agency telephone numbers and addresses are at: </p>
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