7.3-Expanded Federal Parent Locator Service

State Authority:

Wyoming Statute

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

Wyoming Child Support Enforcement Rules

Chapter 4 - General Services

Overview

The Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) is operated by the federal OCSS 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:

• National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) – a database of employment, unemployment, and wage information from State Directory of New Hires (SDNH), State Workforce agencies, and federal agencies; 

• Federal Case Registry (FCR) – a nationwide repository of information on individuals in child support cases and child support orders (See 7.4 - Federal Case Registry for details on this proactive matching database);

• Federal Offset Program (FOP) – a federal program that intercepts past-due child support from tax refunds by non-custodial parents who are ordered to provide child support and are in arrears;

• Federal Administrative Offset Program (FAOP) – a federal program that intercepts federal payments to collect past-due child support;

• Passport Denial Program (PPD) – a federal program that denies passports to those non-custodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support arrears; and

• Multistate Financial Institution Data Match (MSFIDM) – a federal program that provides asset information for non-custodial parents based upon interfaces with multistate financial institutions.

FPLS interfaces with databases maintained by the following federal agencies:

• Internal Revenue Service (IRS);

• Social Security Administration (SSA);

• Veterans Administration (VA);

• Department of Defense (DOD);

• National Security Agency (NSA); and

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

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:

• a name (no unknowns); and

• a social security number or date of birth.

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.

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