Help bring home a loved one today

If your house is burgled you are automatically offered emotional, practical and legal support. If your child goes missing you may get nothing. ‘Missing People’ are calling on the Government to give families of missing people the same basic rights as victims of crime.

Over 250,000 people go missing in the UK every year. While most of us will have read or heard about a disappearance, little is understood about the emotional, legal and financial burdens it can bring to those closest to the missing person. Families left behind face their homes being seized, jobs being lost, divorce, social stigma and suicidal thoughts.

Missing People’s campaign against equal Missing Rights has three main aims:

Families of missing people should know everything possible is being done to find their missing loved one.

• Every region to have a local missing person’s coordinator who will hold local services to account
• Every family to have a named single point of contact in the police force dealing with their missing loved one
• All unidentified bodies to be cross matched with missing person reports

Families affected by a disappearance should have access to support.

• Every family of a missing person to be signposted to Missing People’s free emotional, practical and legal support services by the police
• A network of specially trained counsellors to be developed to support the unique needs of families of missing people

Families left behind should be spared the pain of unnecessary financial and legal bureaucracy.

• All banks to introduce standard mortgage arrangements for families of missing people
• All insurance companies to enable families to freeze or take over their missing relative’s policy payments.
• Presumption of Death Act to be introduced in England of Wales

Please show your support for families of missing people on Missing People’s virtual ‘Wall of Reminders’. A group of families will present these messages to the Prime Ministers later in the year. You can also display the Twibbon and ‘Like’ Missing People’s Facebook page. All take just a few moments of your time and are completely free.



If someone you love has gone missing and you would like to share your story please email pr@missingpeople.org.uk. Without your support we will not be able to bring about change for families of missing people. Alternatively if you would like to become a Campaign Partner please contact Claire Atkinson on claire.atkinson@missingpeople.org.uk or call 0208 392 4523.

Below are a few extracts from ‘Missing People’s’ Wall of reminders. Let us not forget those who are missing:

• “Alastair Stewart OBE – No-one’s rights should go missing.”
• “Peter Lawrence – Hi, I am Peter, father of missing chef Claudia Lawrence. The “Missing Rights” campaign is so important because currently there are NO rights and it is so difficult to manage things.”
• “Caroline Rigler – I urge the government to consider the pain that families experience when a loved one goes missing. I fully support this campaign.”
• “Mum, Dad and Phil – Michael – A beloved son and brother. Deeply missed but never forgotten”
• “M & J – We will always be grateful to this charity as we were lucky to get our son back.”
• “Anon – Thank you from the bottom of my heart for finding my nephew and giving him back the life he always should have had.”
• “Nina – Living in limbo. It’s been over three years now since my son went missing. It’s on my mind every day”
• “Nicki Durbin – The Missing Rights Campaign means that finally families of the missing will have their voices heard. Nicki Durbin – Mum to missing Luke Durbin (19) www.findluke.com”
• “Theresa Humphries, mum of Paul Carter – Every morning I wake and pray today will be the day that you my dear son will be home to stay. Each night as the tears start to fall, I realise that today no one heard my call. I will continue to search for you son… come home soon Paul… Love and miss you every day.. love mom xx”
• “Leanne – A dad missing for 16 years, finally reunited with his daughters. We now have the opportunity for new memories to be made!”

Young People

You can contact us about anything. Whenever you want us and however you want to contact us, we are here for you.

Runaway helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7:
Call 0808 800 7070
Text 80234
Email runaway@missingpeople.org.uk

• You can text even if you have no credit left on your mobile phone.
• We will talk to you in confidence to explain your options and try to get you the help you want.
• We won’t tell anybody you have called us unless you want us to.
• We can’t trace your calls, emails or texts

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Runaway Helpline?
2. How can I get in touch?
3. I’m having problems getting in touch with you. Can you help?
4. How can you help me?
5. Will you tell my family or carer where I am?
6. What do I need to tell you about myself for you to help?
7. How do I hide your webpage?
8. I want to run away, can you help?
9. I want to leave home but I’m under 16.

Young people Runaway Helpline have helped
All people helped are confidential therefore no names used in these extracts are real:

Sam: At Christmas 2008, Missing People launched a free text service to the Runaway Helpline number. The very first message we received had just one word – ‘help’. Sam, 13, had run away and wanted to harm himself. Sam said that no one cared. We cared. Missing People found Sam a safe place to go in his local area.

Tina: Tina was very upset when she called Runaway Helpline. She told us she was 11 and that she had been kicked out from home. Half way through the call Tina hung up. We did not hear back from Tina that night and we were worried about her. Tina called us back a few days later and asked us to contact a Social Worker for her. We made the call and a Social Worker who agreed to call Tina in the phone box. We heard from Tina a month later again as she had run away again that morning. It was now very late at night. Tina was getting very cold and had nowhere to go. With our support Tina agreed to speak on the phone to a police officer. They agreed to pick Tina up and to make sure she had somewhere warm and safe to go that night

Will: We first spoke to Will on a Saturday evening. He told us that he had run away because his dad had been hitting and kicking him. Will was now getting very behind at school. Will was very scared and told us he was feeling very lonely. We encouraged Will to talk through things with a Social Worker. We were able to explain to the Social Worker that Will was worried about talking about what his dad. Will is now staying with his mum and is safe and happy.

Report someone missing

Missing People were set up to help if someone you care about has gone missing. Missing People offers support, advice and practical help at this difficult time. They can also help if you’ve lost touch with a family member. They provide around the clock emotional support for the duration of the disappearance. Our caring and highly trained staff and volunteers will discuss your options and try to get you the support you need. If you’re worried about the safety of a missing person, we would encourage you to contact the police as a first point of call.

To access this support, please see contact details below:
Call Free phone 0500 700700
Email services@missingpeople.org.uk

When reporting a missing person please make sure you provide as much detail as possible, you can do so online by filling out Missing People’s online inquiry form. Once your form has been processed a member of Missing Person’s team will contact you, introduce themselves and let you know they’ve started working on your case and talk you through what will happen now. If assessments of the missing person flag them to be particularly vulnerable, at medium or high risk, you will be contacted as soon as possible. In all other cases Missing people will aim to contact you within 2-3 working days.

Missing People can help you search for a missing loved one. Depending on how vulnerable the person is considered to be, we can help in two distinct ways – publicity appeals or via our Lost Contact Tracing Service

Publicity

When someone is considered vulnerable, publicity appeals can help to gather vital information from the public. These appeals also reach the missing person and encourage them to make contact.

With appropriate consent Missing People can:

• Produce and circulate poster appeals
• Launch a dedicated appeal online
• Further publicity appeals via our media partners and editorial features
• Handle sightings and information from the public 24 hours a day
• Encourage missing people to contact us confidentially
• Text the missing person’s mobile phone (if their number is known)

To access these services, please contact us.
Call Free phone 0500 700 700
Email services@missingpeople.org.uk

Media Opportunity: BBC1’s “Missing 2011” series will highlight the difficulties that missing people face, and the heartache and confusion experienced by families left behind. The series, which is modelled on previous years’ productions of BBC1’s “Missing Live”, is currently in production and the producers, Leopard Films, are seeking families of missing people in the UK to be interviewed.

If you are based in the UK and have a relative who is currently registered as missing with the police/the charity, please contact the Missing 2011 research team at: Peter Carlton - 078 9564 4430; or Christopher Hardy - 077 8683 4738.

Acknowledgement for The Metro, The Daily Mirror, The Pavement and The Big Issue work alongside Missing People to promote and reach out to missing people across the UK; Thank you.

Lost Contact Trading Service

When you have lost touch with a relative, or if the police do not consider them to be vulnerable, Missing People helps via our Lost Contact Tracing Service.

Below are the criteria for this free service:

• You know the full name and date of birth of the missing person
• You are a direct relative of the missing person
• You and the missing person are over 18 years old
• The missing person was in touch with you within the last 5 years
• The missing person was last known to be in the UK

Missing People’s Lost Contact Tracing Service can help to find people by trying to trace an address for them via our Search Partner, Tracesmart , and other helpful agencies. If we find an address we will try to send a letter. The letter will ask the missing person to contact us, in confidence, so we can help them decide what they would like to do. The decision to get back in contact is for the missing person to make. Our service respects the right to go missing, as well as giving families a chance to be reconnected. We do not disclose any of the missing person’s details without their permission, and we would not disclose any of your details without your prior consent.

To access this service, please contact us.
Call Free phone 0500 700 700
Email services@missingpeople.org.uk

Sightings and Giving Information

Sightings and information from the public help us to find vulnerable missing people.  However you get in contact, it is free and completely confidential. When you contact us it will help if you know the name of the person who is missing. You can find online appeals for all those the charity is looking for by clicking here

Missing People relies on information from the public to help find missing people – You can contact us using any of the methods below:
Freephone 0500 700 700
seensomeone@missingpeople.org.uk
On-line sightings form

All information we receive is passed to the police. Your identity will remain confidential to Missing People unless you indicate that it is ok for us to pass your details on to the police.  The police often do want to speak to the person who saw the missing person to check details and help them find the person.

We are very grateful that you are taking the time to pass on this information.

How you can help

Spread awareness and keep updated by joining Missing People’s online newsletter here.

Join the search and help Missing People to be a lifeline. Whether you download a poster, collect change in a home money box, or post ‘missing appeals’ on your Facebook page, you can make a difference for families of missing people.

Donate here, either with a one-off donation, a monthly regular donation, make a gift in tribute or leave a gift in your will. It all goes in the right direction, helping to support bringing missing loved ones home for good.

Please be part of this fight.