Hi all,
I need to find my niece's biological father. The Department of Child Support has an address on record (from June) that I requested and received. We sent a process server to the location they reported, and bio dad is not at that location. A different family lives there and has, apparently, lived there for some time. I am going to give DCS a call tomorrow and see if I can understand what's going on.
In the meantime, I thought perhaps one of you would be able to help me understand the process that DCS goes through when finding a parent who does not want to be found. They told me this address had been verified. I'm confused. How do they verify this information? How would this happen? Why would they have a verified address that's incorrect? How does this work?
I feel really bummed out that we've hit this barrier. I should have seen it coming (since bio dad is consistently inconstant) but bummed out I still feel.
Thanks for any ideas you can pass on.
He's not a US citizen so no SSI number and, last I heard, he doesn't file taxes. DCS is looking for him to get him to pay child support, and that's wonderful because it's one less thing for me to do. I am not looking for him for child support though. Sure, it would be nice, but I can live without. I need to serve him with custody papers. If we can't serve him, we can't gain custody and my niece has been with us for half her life. It's time.
I've tried to find him through FB. No luck. And man did I craft a good fake profile!
More than anything, I would just like to understand the steps that DCS goes through to locate an individual.
Gamma G - It must be different in Washington state. DCS was able to give me (the "custodial parent") his address after I filed the proper paper work. Would have been different if I were not the primary caretaker for exactly the reasons you stated. Here, we must, with due diligence, show that we have looked for him. We won't be able to put out a paper advert unless 1.) we've tried everything else, many a time and 2.) We know what state/country to place an advert from. We need a last known address to go anywhere forward. Otherwise the case just sits open (indefinitely).
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ETA: I'm trying to send you all flowers but the button is not working. Consider yourself flowered!
Can you find the landlord and ask if they will give you a work location?
Look for him on a dating site, facebook ect -- pretend to be a cutie sexpot and ask for a hook-up? (I know perverted but it might work)
See if he is a member of a union?
If this is for child support get a lein on his tax refund -- even if you don't find him you'll get money.
If he is not a US citizen consider contacting the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There is a field office in Seattle. I used to work with ICE and they WILL follow up on reports from the population - they won't run out and arrest him, but they will do some sort of follow up so maybe it will at least yield a current address.
If he is illegal you may be very lucky and they will pick him up (especially if you have an idea where he may be working)... not that you want to get him in trouble (and I wouldn't expect it to happen, they have bigger fish to fry), but if they did pick him up, once he is in custody he could be served.
If he is in the country legally her MUST have a valid address on file with them or risk loosing his status.
BTW a verified address just means they have either checked it against another database (for example DOL or Social Security) or they may have mailed something to him at the address and received a response (or letter wasn't returned). A verified address does NOT mean that he actually lives there...
Good luck.
My son (in process of adopting) has a father that they have never found. The county (in my state, counties each hold their own DCS) has an investigative team that searches for biological parents. I'm not sure how they do it exactly, but find quite a few people! I do know from my experience that they have access to a lot of information on email addresses, physical addresses and facebook.
Ephie, can DCS file a motion for permanent custody with the courts on the merits of abandonment? I know each state has different laws concerning this. In my state, generally a child has to be involved with the system for 12 months before they can file for PC, but they can file for a bypass due to abandonment much sooner.
I know you are living this day in and day out, and I'm sure this is something you have already pursued. Just wanted to throw this out there.
If you have his social security number, you can do some different searches.
Below are some different ways to find people.
http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_people-social-securi...
ber.html
My son's bio dad is the same way. Dropped off the face of the earth, was getting paid under the table, no SS number. He also is not on the birth certificate. Is your niece's dad on the cert? My story may be a bit different than hers if it is.
What I had to do to terminate his rights was put an add in the paper, a legal add, stating that I was looking for him. It was 10 years ago, so I am not exactly sure off the top of my head what I did, but I am sure they will set you straight on what needs to happen.
I contacted his previous employer, sent things to his previous address, and put an "ad" in the paper for 2 weeks(?) stating that I was looking for him and to please contact me.
He did none of those things and his rights were terminated.
L.
This is the only web site that I know of, other than that I am not sure of the process. I am praying for you and the fam.
If he has abandoned this child in your care and not shown her any interest you can gain full guardianship of her through the court system by doing a few things that your attorney should know about...confused about this for sure...maybe I'm not understanding.
Anyway, if he has abandoned her and you can prove this then you don't have to do any more. All you have to do is run an add in the newspaper in the area he is supposed to be living in that states you are doing the court hearing and are going for guardianship of this child. That is legally enough since the child support enforcement people have been unable to find him too.
This shows he is gone and has no interest in this child.
Your attorney should know this though. That's why I'm confused. It's the law. When a child is left with someone for an extended amount of time and does not have contact or any support from either parent then they are deemed abandoned and someone has to step in and take responsibility for this child. There are usually cut and dry methods for dealing with this.
PS, as far as I know legally they are not ever supposed to hand anyone's private information to you for any reason. If they have a court order they can of course but many people take off to hide from abusive ex's so it's pretty much a no no to give you his address of record. They should not have done that.
When I need to get hold of one of the parents regarding child support of my grand kids I have to contact child support and ask them if they can send them a letter about. It's a strict breach of confidentiality to give out personal information to someone else, especially in these times when just about anything can be found online.
He does not need to be found. If you are doing an adoption it only has to be shown that efforts were made to locate him. This is usually done with a site by publication, which is placed in the newspaper informing him that you are trying to locate him, his rights can then be terminated as he as abandoned his child and made no efforts to provide for her care. Good luck.
