Child support is essential for single parents in Pennsylvania who are trying to provide the best life for their child. Establishing child support involves many steps and can be a complicated process.
The complications increase if you do not know where the child’s other parent is. Life circumstances can cause parents to fall out of touch, or the other parent may move around a lot, making it difficult to locate them when trying to file for child support.
This can be incredibly frustrating since you must generally have contact information for the other parent to serve them with a child support petition and allow them to participate in the process.
The good news is that the domestic relations section of your local court can help you with locating the other parent if you cannot find them.
Obtain Information on The Other Parent
When you file your petition for child support, you are assigned a domestic relations caseworker. Provide them with all information that you have on the other parent.
This includes information such as their last known address, phone number, date of birth, social security number and last known employer. The most important pieces of information are their birth date and social security number.
Your caseworker will attempt to locate the other parent. The process will likely be harder if the other parent does not have a fixed address or is staying with friends or family, but many times parents are located when enough information about them is provided.
If the other parent is located, paternity will be established, if necessary, and a child support conference is held.
What if The Parent Disappears Again?
When your child support order is eventually established, there is always a chance that the child’s parent might disappear again and stop making payments. Fortunately, there are available resources and options to enforce a child support order and allow you to take care of your child.