Checklist for Tracking and Locating

1. Mail letters to all addresses on Locator. Use a mail merge function to get letters out each month as clients become due for follow-up. (Send letters out 1-2 months before due date.)

2. Check CJS status by phone or Web.

• Check jail status for all active clients (i.e., all clients due for follow-up). If client is in jail, make sure a letter is mailed to client and send an interviewer to the jail as soon as possible. If you get information that client is incarcerated but is not listed on the jail list or the state Department of Corrections, try other counties' jail lists.

• Check probation status for all active clients. If on probation/community release, get information on current status, including region or office and phone number for probation/community supervision office. Call and get Probation Officer's name, then contact P.O.

• Check for state Department of Corrections system status for all active clients. If client is incarcerated, make sure a letter is mailed to client. (Keep in mind that it may take the Department of Corrections a few weeks to update their records, so, the client may be in prison but is still listed as on parole or discharged.) If on parole, get information on current status, including, region or office and phone number for parole office. Get Parole Officer's name, then contact P.O.

• Check Federal prison.

3. Call all numbers on locator. Try evening and weekend calls. Write down on locator notes whose and which numbers you called. If you talk to someone, write down name and what they said.

4. Call 411 or use Web white pages to try to get possible numbers for client, relatives and friends. Try reverse directory on Web page for phone numbers to get possible addresses.

5. Run Lexis-Nexis or credit bureau report and mail letter to most recent address. If no response from mailing go to #7.

6. Mail letters to all addresses on Lexis-Nexis and credit bureau report. Check which letters have been returned. If letters have not been returned from a particular address, check if address is a possible doorknock. Send new letters to addresses that have not returned letters. If letters have been returned try sending a resident letter. Make sure to log all addresses to which you sent letters, when they were sent, and from where they were returned.

7. If you suspect that a given address is good for client or his relatives (e.g., the address is on the locator and the Lexis-Nexis report), call Haines (reverse directory service) to get a phone number for that address. If number is unlisted, get a neighbor's. Call the number to check if they know client, his relatives, or friends.

8. Check vital records. Do a death search on the Web by name and SS#.

9. Go doorknocking.

NOTE: Remember to document in the Locator notes all the locating work you do. When speaking to the client or other contact, get as much information as possible (i.e., name, phone, address, inmate ID number). If client calls from prison or jail, get release date, address, and phone number for an outside contact who will know where client is.