DCS will notify DOS through OCSE to release the passport if the noncustodial parent:
- Pays the debt in full
- Needs the passport for employment or deployment
- Has a family emergency
NOTE: Reasons 2 and 3 are not automatic releases.
Noncustodial parents requesting that their passports be released for employment or deployment must provide written verification from their employer (employment) or their commanding officer (deployment).
A family emergency is defined as a life or death situation involving an immediate family member. The federal government defines an immediate family member as:
- Parent, guardian, or stepparent
- Child or stepchild
- Grandparent
- Sibling or stepsibling
- Aunt or uncle
- Spouse
The noncustodial parent must provide verification in the form of a letter from either a doctor or hospital (on letterhead) or the Red Cross.
Despite recent record improvements in paternity establishment and child support collections, much more needs to be done to ensure that all children born out-of-wedlock have paternity established and that all non-custodial parents provide financial support for their children. Currently, only about one-half of the custodial parents due child support receive full payment. About twenty-five percent receive partial payment and twenty-five percent receive nothing.
In an effort to strengthen and improve state child support enforcement activities, several federal laws were passed, including a national new-hire reporting system. These laws required states to pass uniform interstate child support laws, automate enforcement actions, and provide for tougher noncompliance penalties, such as driver's license revocation.