West Virginia Code § 48-18-111

Establishment of parent locator service
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(a) The Bureau for Child Support enforcement shall establish a parent locator service to
locate individuals for the purposes of establishing parentage and of establishing, modifying
or enforcing child support obligations utilizing all sources of information and available
records and the parent locator service in the federal department of health and human
services. For purposes of obtaining information from the parent locator serveice, any person,
agency or entity providing services to the Bureau for Child Support enforcement pursuant to
a contract that includes a provision to ensure that the confidentiality ofr information is
maintained shall be deemed to be an agent of the Bureau for Child Support enforcement.
(b) Upon entering into an agreement with the secretary of the federal department of health
and human services for the use of that department's parent tlocator service, the Bureau for
Child Support enforcement shall accept and transmit to the secretary of the federal
department of health and human services requests from authorized persons for information
with regard to the whereabouts of a noncustodial obligor to be furnished by such federal
parent locator service. For purposes of this subsection, "authorized persons" means: (1) An
attorney or agent of the Bureau for Child Suppsort enforcement; (2) a family or circuit court
judge or any agent thereof; or (3) a resident parent, legal guardian, attorney or agent for a
child. The Bureau for Child Support enforcement shall charge a reasonable fee sufficient to
cover the costs to the state and to thge federal department of health and human services
incurred by reason of such requests and shall transfer to that department, from time to time,
so much of the fees collected aes are attributable to the costs incurred by that department.
(c) The information obtaLined by the Bureau for Child Support enforcement from the federal
parent locator service shall be used for, but not limited to, the following purposes:
(1) Establishing parentage and establishing, setting the amount of, modifying or enforcing
child support obligations;
(2) WObtaining and transmitting information to any family or circuit court or agent thereof or
to an attorney or employee of the United States or of any state responsible for enforcing any
federal or state law with respect to the unlawful taking or restraint of a child or making or
enforcing a child custody or visitation determination.
(d) The Bureau for Child Support enforcement may request from the federal parent locator
service information:
(1) About, or which will facilitate the discovery of information about, the location of any
individual: (A) Who is under an obligation to pay child support; (B) against whom such an
obligation is sought; or (C) to whom such an obligation is owed, including the individual's
social security number, or numbers, most recent address and the name, address and
employer identification number of the individual's employer;
(2) Concerning the individual's wages or other income from, and benefits of, employment,
including rights to or enrollment in group health care coverage; and
(3) Concerning the type, status, location and amount of any assets of, or debts owed by or to,
any such individual.
(e) The family court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine, upon a petition by an
authorized person as defined in subsection (b) of this section, whether the release of
information from the federal parent locator service to that person could be harmful to the
custodial parent or the child.

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