Getting Visitation When You Can't Find the Mother or Child

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Pennsylvania

So here we go... My boyfriend, has a son to his ex wife. She ran off 2 years ago, my boyfriend tired to keep in contact with her, but she tried to get him to sign over his rights, which he refused to do and she fell off the grid. Her family won't give her up and neither will her friends. I have done searches that I have paid for, only to come up with nothing. She is doing everything in her power not to be found. There is no custody agreement, my boyfriend hasn't seen his son in two years. He contacted the police and they said they couldn't help, because there are no custody papers. He contacted domestics, well of course they didn't do anything. We just recently contacted a legal aid firm and they won't help us because we don't have an address for her. We keep hitting dead ends and we don't have the money to shell out thousands for a lawyer and we obviously can't do it on our own. We are really stuck. He. Just wants to see his son. There is always someone slamming a door in our face, I guess because sadly. Money talks. Even though there is no custody agreement aren't there laws about maliciously taking kids away from the other parent? Is there anything we can do, we really are trying and he has been for the past two years. He feels like he wants to give up because it seems there is no end in sight, since she basically doesn't exist. Does anyone have any answers, or can you point us in the right direction? Fathers shouldn't have to go through all this to get their children, especially when there are so many dead beat fathers out there, who could care less. Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you in advance. We are desperate at this point.

Fathers go through this because they aren't married to the women they procreate with.

If your boyfriend can't find Mom, then he can't get visitation.

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Quoting BooRennie

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Fathers go through this because they aren't married to the women they procreate with.

If your boyfriend can't find Mom, then he can't get visitation.

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...they were married fyi. If you go back up and read I write that.

you have a couple choices:

learn how skip tracing works and attempt to locate her on your own or hire a PI to attempt to find her.

If there are no court orders addressing custody, then no, mom has no legal obligation to produce the child for visitation. Dad should have addressed this as part of the divorce. If he didn't, then as other posters have indicated, he's going to have to do more to find mom before he'll be able to attempt to get her back before a court to establish visitation or a parenting plan. And, he needs to be aware that this will need to occur in the state where the CHILD is living. Is there a child support order at this time?

No, there is no support order at this time. She never went after support. But my bf does carry health insurance for him (it doesn't make up for it). But its something.
He didn't file for custody because he just wanted the divorce to be over. He was going to file after it was said and done. But, that is when she tried to get him to sign over his rights, and after he refused she changed. Her number and fell off the face of the earth. And they all told him when he went to file that he had to have an exact address or there was no point in filing, because they wouldn't do anything. Which still holds true today...no address no help.
What is Skip Tracking?? Never heard of that.

All in all we keep getting the run around from everyone here. One place tells us we need to talk to someone else, they send us somewhere different entirley and then they send us back to the place we started at. It seems like no one wants to give a straight answer.
I contacted PI and already got the price...but I just feel there should be a law or something against parents keeping the kids away without just cause. Especially when he has done nothing wrong to her or the child, he isn't in danger, she is just being selfish. No one should have to go through this.

How did a court order a divorce and not address the children of the marriage at all? Something doesn't smell kosher in the kitchen.

OP, you wouldn't be the first girlfriend who doesn't have the entire story.

Haha far from the truth, he's been my best friend for 11 years. He has no reason to keep anything from me. I pretty much followed the situation from start to finish. I will have to ask him again why it wansn't addressed, but i know it had nothing to do with him not caring about his son.

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Quoting SaraSmile07

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He didn't file for custody because he just wanted the divorce to be over.

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BIG BIG BIG mistake. He got the divorce over. At the cost that he may not find his son now. This is why people should be consulting with legal counsel BEFORE they make hasty decisions just to "get things over with". Far too often, they fail to understand the COST of a quick fix, and the longer term fall out and consequences.

skip tracing: a term generally used in debt collection circles but it is simply the act of locating a person

since he has medical insurance on the child, he should have access to claims made for the child. That means the medical provider would be known and as such, likely narrow down the child's general location.

Given the internet today, finding somebody, unless they actually take steps to become incognito (which is actually pretty tough to do and remain within legal activities), is much easier than it used to be.