GRAND FORKS (AP) - A Chicago man says he was shocked to find out a North Dakota child support agency had notified his boss that it was looking for information about him in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.

Edward Jackson, 31, says he wants to call attention to the agency's action in hopes it might "embarrass them into making some changes, and taking a look at their policies."

Jackson said he learned from his employer earlier this week that he had been named by a woman in North Dakota as the father of her daughter, who is about 18 months old.

His employer, a small company that handles billing for real estate companies, got a three-page questionnaire from the Lake Region Child Support Enforcement Unit in Devils Lake, part of the state social services agency that covers six counties, Jackson said.

"It's a little bit of a shock and more than a tad bit embarrassing when your boss tells you that you have a kid and you're not paying for it," he said.

He found out the woman who gave birth to the girl had been living in Belcourt last fall. But Jackson, a University of North Dakota graduate who spent his childhood in Belcourt and Rolette, said he had no idea who the woman was.

"I never met this woman; I've never seen her," he said. "She is 20 years old."

Jackson said having his boss hear from North Dakota officials was embarrassing. He also had to tell his wife of five years.

"When I sat down and told her, she at first thought I had a kid from before we were married and I didn't know about it," he said. After they looked at the dates involved, it was clear to his wife that "something was messed up," he said.

Jackson was able to send an e-mail message to the woman who named him as the father of her child.

"She said she used to date an Ed Jackson but she has no clue who I am," Jackson said.

Officials from the Lake Region Child Support unit notified him Wednesday that they had figured out he was not the man they were seeking.

"I feel bad for him that it happened. There were a lot of circumstances that led us to believe that he was the correct person, but he wasn't," said Colin Barstad, the unit's administrator.

Case workers have since been tracking the "other" man who shares Jackson's name, who lives near Chicago and is almost the same age.

Barstad said his agency mailed Jackson's employer with a standard request for information as a first step in checking a paternity claim.

It's a very rare mix-up, Barstad said. "I've been here 23 years and this is the second, perhaps the third time, this has happened," he said.

Jackson said he felt violated by an insinuation that he is a deadbeat dad, and he wants the child support agency to be more careful.