[catnbrandon]

Hello everyone,

My name is Brandon and I'm from Ohio. A year ago my baby's mother took off with my daughter and have not seen her since. She said last time I spoke to her with a working number is the reason she done it is because I missed a visitation with my daughter but I had her almost everyday, there was even times she would show up to my house without calling me and I would take her anyway she said that's why she moved but in my opinion she had this planned because she moved all of a sudden just in a weekends time frame. So my question is does anyone know of any search engines I can use to find her. I do have the mothers social security number also I due pay child support on my daughter but they nor the courts will tell me any addresses or anything other than to hire an attorney. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks, Brandon

[ScottGem]

If you have court ordered visitation and she is not allowing you to exercise that order she is in contempt of the court order.

In addition, by hiding herself and the child from you, she is committing parental kidnapping.

So what you should have done is go back to the court that issued the order and file for a contempt citation against her. The court will be able to get a location of where she is from the support agency that is forwarding her payments.

While having a lawyer is a good idea, you may not need it in this case. Based on what you have told us, the law should be on your side. You may need some help doing the paperwork involved in filing for contempt, but not necessarily hiring a lawyer to represent you in court.

[stevetcg]

Yes, hire an attorney. A court proceeding will need to be brought against her in order for your lawyer to get the records.

[catnbrandon]

I don't have parental rights as of yet she left before I could get them but I do have my paternity papers proving I am the father and I am ordered to pay child support. Laws in Ohio are funky this way they can order for someone to pay child support but if rights are wanted then it needs to go to court but again she moved before I could but she did slip and tell me if I had any gifts for her to have them sent to her mothers address and she would forward it to her.

[ScottGem]

If you have been ordered to pay child support, then you have been declared the legal father. According to my research it is possible to obtain a support order without going to court. You need to check with ODJFS Online | Helping Ohioans for info about how the order was obtained.

If you have not established your rights as yet WHY NOT?? You stated she claimed you missed a visitation. If this was court ordered visitation then you have established your rights. If not, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Its been a year since she left, why weren't you in court the day after she left??

To sum up, you are the legal father since there is a support order in place. If you don't have court ordered visitation then you should be in court tomorrow morning filing for visitation. You do not need to know where she is. You explain to the court, either in your filing or at an initial hearing, that she disappeared with your child. The court will see that she is served through the agency that is forwarding the support payments.

Frankly, you have mostly yourself to blame for not seeing your child. You have not been proactive in trying to get visitation and have enforced. So I have to ask, do you really want to see your child or not?