7.3-Expanded Federal Parent Locator Service

Federal Authority:

Social Security Act

§453 Federal parent locator service

§453A State Directory of New Hires

§454(8), (17), (20) and (28) State plan for child and spousal support

§463 Use of the Federal Parent Locator Service in connect with the enforcement or determination of child custody and in cases of parental kidnapping of a child

§466(a)(12) and (d) Requirement of statutorily prescribed procedures to improve the effectiveness of child support enforcement


Code of Federal Regulations


45 CFR 302.5 - State parent locator service

45 CFR 303.3 - Location of noncustodial parents

45 CFR 303.7 -  Provision of services in intergovernmental IV-D cases

45 CFR 303.15 - Agreements to use the Federal Parent Locator Service (PLS) in parental kidnapping and child custody or visitation cases

45 CFR 303.69 - Requests by agents or attorneys of the United States for information from the Federal Parent Locator Service (PLS)

State Authority:


Wyoming Statute

Wyo. Stat. §20-6-108 - State parent locator service


Wyoming Child Support Enforcement Rules

Chapter 4 - General Services

Policy Number: 7.3

Effective Date:  October 1, 2010

Overview

The Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) is operated by the federal OCSE to assist states in locating alleged fathers, non-custodial parents, and custodial parents to establish paternity, child support, and medical support orders along with enforcement and modification of child support, custody, and visitation orders.  Under special circumstance, the FPLS is also used by law enforcement in conjunction with parental kidnapping.  In 1996, Welfare Reform expanded the FPLS to include access to additional locate sources listed below.  This expanded FPLS is now known as EFPLS and contains the following:


FPLS interfaces with databases maintained by the following federal agencies:


The FPLS can provide residential and mailing addresses, assets, income, and employment information.

Policy

All requests for information from the EFPLS will go through the Wyoming State Parent Locator Service (SPLS).  This not only includes all of the IV-D child support requests but also any requests from authorized people for Non-IV-D child support, custody or visitation and parental kidnapping requests.


IV-D Child Support Requests

In order for POSSE to automatically request locate information from the EFPLS, the person on POSSE needs to have:

Note:  :  If the person does not have a social security number, contact the State CSP Office person responsible for contacting the SSA with the name and date of birth of the person. See also 7.5 -  Other Locate Sources.

Within 75 days of determining locate services are necessary, POSSE will automatically submit a locate request to the EFPLS and the Wyoming SPLS (See Appendix 7.C - FPLS and WY SPLS Timeframes for details surrounding submittal timeframes and information returned).  

The FPLS compares information in the FCR and NDNH as described in detail in 7.4 - Federal Case Registry.  If an alleged father or non-custodial parent continues in the “locate” status, POSSE will automatically submit another locate request to the EFPLS on an annual basis for 3 years.  If the alleged father or non-custodial parent is not located after 3 years, the case worker will close the case as described in Chapter 12  - Closure.

Note:  :  The FPLS will continue to send locate information based upon a request until the next FPLS request is made.

Non IV-D Requests


An authorized person may request locate services from the EFPLS through the Wyoming SPLS.  See 7.2 State Parent Locator Service for details.


Parental Kidnapping Requests

Under specific circumstances authorized law enforcement entities may request locate services from the EFPLS through the Wyoming SPLS.  See 7.2 State Parent Locator Service for details.



Cross Reference


Appendix 7.C – FPLS and WY SPLS Timeframes

Version Number:  1

Last Revised Date:  July 1, 2014

Last Reviewed: March 14, 2024