By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

For parents of missing children, any scrap of information that could lead to an abductor is precious. And often the chief suspect is a relative who, in a surprising number of cases, files a tax return containing the data investigators need. But the tax agency in United States, the Internal Revenue Service, says that privacy laws severely restrict the release of that information.

The laws have specific exceptions allowing the I.R.S. to turn over data in child support cases and to help federal agencies determine whether an applicant qualifies for income-based federal benefits. But because of guidelines in the handling of criminal cases, there are several obstacles for parents and investigators pursuing a child abductor .

“It’s one of those areas where you would hope that common sense would prevail,” said Ernie Allen, president and chief executive of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “We are talking about people who are fugitives, who have criminal warrants against them. And children who are at risk.


Suspects in cases of
missing children often
file income tax returns.


” About 200,000 family abductions are reported each year in the United States, most of which stem from custody disputes . About 12,000 involve parental abductors who assume false identities and travel the country to escape detection, according to Justice Department statistics.

A significant number file one of bureaucracy’s most invasive documents, a federal tax return. A study released by the Treasury Department in 2007 examined the Social Security numbers of 1,700 missing children and the relatives suspected of abducting them, and found that more than a third had been used in tax returns filed after the abductions took place.

Criminologists say it is unclear what motivates a child abductor to file a tax return: confusion, desperation for a refund or an attempt to avoid compounding their problems by failing to pay taxes. Whatever the reason, the details in a return can be crucial to detectives searching for a missing child.

The law forbids the I.R.S. from turning over data from tax returns unless a parental abduction is being investigated as a federal crime . But the vast majority of parental abduction cases are investigated by state and local prosecutors, not as federal crimes . Even when the Federal Bureau of Investigation does intercede in parental abduction cases, requests for I.R.S. data are rarely granted.

When the Treasury Department study identified hundreds of suspected abductors who had filed tax returns, a federal judge refused to issue an order authorizing the I.R.S. to turn over their addresses to investigators. Advocates for missing children say that federal judges often argue that parental abductions are better suited to family court than criminal court.

“There’s this sense that because the child is with at least one of their parents, it’s not really a problem,” said Abby Potash, director of Team Hope, which counsels parents who are searching for a missing child. I.R.S. officials point out that they have worked closely with missing children’s advocates .

The I.R.S.’s “Picture Them Home” program has included photos of thousands of missing children with forms mailed to millions of taxpayers since 2001. More than 80 children were recovered with the help of that program. One problem missing children’s advocates have wrestled with in proposing legislation is determining how much information the I.R.S. should be asked to release from a suspected abductor’s tax return.

Should disclosure be required only if a child’s Social Security number is listed on a return? Should child abduction investigators be given only the address where a tax return was mailed? Or the location of an employer who has withheld taxes on a suspected abductor? Griselda Gonzalez, who has not seen her children since 2007, holds fleeting hope that some type of information might reunite her family.

Diego and Tammy Flores were just 2 and 3 years old when their father took them from their home in Victorville, California, for a weeklong visit and never returned. It gnaws at her that some federal laws seemed more concerned with the privacy of a fugitive than the safety of children.

“When your kids are taken from you, the hardest part is at night, thinking about them going to sleep,” she said. “You wonder who’s tucking them in, who will hug them if they have a bad dream or taking them to the bathroom if they wake up. And you ask yourself whether you’ve done everything possible to find them.” Missing children’s advocates see the I.R.S. data as a potentially powerful resource.

“There are hundreds of cases this could help solve,” said Cindy Rudometkin of the Polly Klaas Foundation. “And even if it helped solve one case ? imagine if that child returned home was yours.”