In some tragic circumstances the “non-custodial” parent will stop paying the ordered child support and will evade contact. In such circumstances, not only is the “non-custodial” parent violating the law, but they are also harming the child or children for whom he or she is responsible. The Federal Government takes evading “non-custodial” parents very seriously.
To this end the Federal Government created the Federal Parent Locater Service (FPLS). The service is available through most state CSE programs. This program is set up to locate a child that is being hid by one parent from another. Under almost any circumstance hiding a child is a serious violation of a custody or visitation order.
Unfortunately the FPLS is rudimentary at best. The FPLS uses the information available to ordinary government agencies to try to track the missing parent. These federal records include Internal Revenue Service files, Social Security Administration files, and Veterans Administration files. This is a good start to finding the missing parent, but most law enforcement agencies agree that the other parent or family members are generally the best suited to know where the missing parent may be hiding.
State agencies also have a program to locate missing parents, called State Parent Locator Services (SPLS). This program is very similar to the FPLS in that it uses state records similar to federal records. These include records from the Department of Motor Vehicles files and state unemployment insurance files.
These agencies, partnered with law enforcement agencies, can generally help find the missing parent. In most cases the missing parent has not left the country or even the city they live in. Generally they just stop responding to calls. Based on this information you can get a good start on locating your missing spouse.
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