Child Support Services

What do I need to do to obtain a child support order?

To obtain any type of order, the Division of Child Support must notify the noncustodial parent who it is trying to establish an order for. However, in some cases if the noncustodial parent cannot be located, action cannot be taken.

If the whereabouts of the noncustodial parent are unknown, there are many places from which to gather information. Child Support specialists try to locate a noncustodial parent through the State Parent Locator Service which is linked with several state agencies such as Job Service, driver license and motor vehicle registration. If the person has never lived in South Dakota or has left the state, we request other states to search their files. We can also search on a national level through the Federal Parent Locator Service when the family has no knowledge of the other parent’s whereabouts.

The information provided to the Division of Child Support by the custodial parent can greatly increase the chances of locating the noncustodial parent. Information about work history, friends, relatives, arrest records, former addresses or other pertinent information speeds up the location process and increases the chance of collecting support.

In addition, two other tools are used to locate parents:

• The Federal Case Registry: Contains limited information about each child support case in the United States. It matches quarterly wage information and unemployment compensation records submitted by each state with the National Directory of New Hires.
• National Directory of New Hire Reporting: Federal law requires all employers to report information about newly hired employees. They report the information to their state. The state then reports the information to the National Directory of New Hires.