Someone is Missing - Sources of Support and Information

Chapter 6. Sources of Support and Information

If you are concerned for the current safety and wellbeing of a missing person you are required to lodge a missing persons report at your local Police Station.

There is no time period that needs to expire prior to making a missing persons report.

6.1. Search agencies

NSW Police Missing Persons Unit
Ph (toll free): 1800 025 091
Website: www.police.nsw.gov.au/community_issues/missing_persons

The NSW Police will undertake investigations to find all persons reported missing where there are concerns for the persons' wellbeing.

In the first instance reports should be made to your local Police station who will then coordinate their investigation with the Missing Persons Unit.

Australian Red Cross International Tracing Agency
Ph: (02) 9229 4143
Address: 159 Clarence St , Sydney 2000
Website: www.redcross.org.au/

Helps to re-establish contact between family members or close friends who have been separated due to war, armed conflict, and natural disaster.

Link-Up (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation
Ph: (02) 4759 1911
Toll free: 1800 624 352
Address: 5 Wallis St
Lawson NSW 2783
Email: www. linkupnsw .org.au

Link-Up assists in reuniting Indigenous families who have become separated through government or institutional intervention. This service works specifically with the ‘Stolen Generation'

Salvation Army Family Tracing Services
Ph: (02) 9211 0277
Website: www.salvos.org.au/specialsearch

The Salvation Army Family Tracing Service works nationally, and internationally, to successfully re-unite families after they have been disconnected from each other

The service charges a small fee and requires identification to confirm familial relationships prior to instigating searches.

6.2. Counselling and Support Services for families and friends of missing persons

Families & Friends of Missing Persons Unit Counselling Service, NSW Attorney General's Department
Ph: (02) 8688 5423 ( Sydney metropolitan)
Toll free 1800 227 772
TTY: (02) 8688 9631
Email: ffmpu@agd.nsw.gov.au
Website www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/missingpersons

FFMPU provides counselling when crisis and long-term counselling for families and friends of missing persons, post missing support, and information on legal issues and search agencies. The service is free, confidential and operates from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm.

Generalist counselling services

There is a dearth of specialised counsellors who provide support in relation to issues affecting families and friends of missing persons. This type of trauma may be referred to as unresolved or ambiguous loss.

If your counsellor would like to know more about the issues surrounding missing persons and unresolved loss, suggest that they contact the FFMPU for information.

Your counsellor may also wish to request a free copy of ‘Supporting those who are left behind – a framework for health care professionals' responding to families of missing persons. The kit can be ordered from the Australian Federal Police National Missing Persons Coordination Centre or by calling 1800 000 634 or email missing@afp.gov.au

Some useful services to locate counsellors include:

Australian Psychological Society
Toll free: 1800 333 497
www.psychology.org.au

This is the Australian professional body for psychologists. The organisation is able to provide referral information to a psychologist in your area. Medicare covers psychologists' fees for up to 12 sessions per year when you obtain a referral from your G.P. Psychologists can help you cope with difficult feelings and situations and address problems such as depression or anxiety.

Kids Help Line
Toll free: 1800 551 800

Trained counsellors provide a 24-hour confidential and anonymous telephone counselling service to those aged 5 to 18 years.

Lifeline
Ph: 13 11 14

Provides 24-hour telephone support offering counselling and referral information. Some face-to-face counselling is also available, mainly in rural areas of NSW

NALAG (National Association of Loss and Grief)
Ph: (02) 6882 9222
Website: www.nalag.org.au/

Provides information about coping with grief and referral to counsellors

Bereavement Care centre
Ph: 1300 654 556
Website: www.bereavementcare.com.au

6.3. NSW State Coroners Court
Coroners Information and Support Program
Glebe
Ph: (02) 8584 7777
Website:
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/coroners_court/ll_coroners.nsf/pages/coroners_index

6.4. Australian Missing Persons Websites

Family and Friends of Missing Persons Unit
NSW Attorney general's Department
www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/missingpersons
This government agency provides support and assistance for the family members and friends of missing persons, and works closely with both police and non-police tracing organisations.

International Social Service
www.iss-ssi.org/
“International Social Service is a world-wide network of social work agencies that aim at helping individuals and families with social problems resulting from voluntary or forced migration” (ISS Manual, 2000). ISS is comprised of 20 Branches and National Affiliated Bureaus with the General Secretariat based in Geneva .

National Missing Persons Co-ordination Centre, Australian Federal Police
www.missingpersons.gov.au
This national body coordinates a nationwide response to reducing the number of missing persons, as well as minimise the consequences when people do go missing.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
www.smartraveller.gov.au/tips/missing.html
Assists with enquiries regarding Australians missing overseas

NSW Police Missing Persons Unit
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/community_issues/missing_persons
Created by the NSW Police to advise the family members and friends of missing persons of the action they can take in the attempt to locate loved ones.

Red Cross
www.redcross.org.au
When families are separated by armed conflict, political upheaval or natural disaster the Red Cross tries to keep families in touch through its International Tracing and Message service.

Salvation Army Family Tracing Service
http://salvos.org.au/need-help/family-tracing/
The Salvation Army Family Tracing Service works nationally, and internationally, to successfully re-unite families after they have separated.

6.5. Other Useful Websites for Families and Friends from Overseas

Rachel Foundation
www.rachelfoundation.org
The Rachel Foundation is a Canadian not-for-profit organisation whose primary purpose is to aid abducted and alienated children through reintegration and research.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ( USA ) www.missingkids.com/
Although American-based, this website offers information to increase international awareness about critical issues. An added feature though, is the fact that information is offered in various languages and the website also allows you to print posters in these languages. NCMEC serves as a focal point in providing assistance to parents, children, law enforcement, schools, and the community in recovering missing children and raising public awareness about ways to help prevent child abduction, molestation, and sexual exploitation.

Operation Go Home
http://www.operationgohome.ca/frame.html
Operation Go Home was founded in Canada in 1971 by Reverend Norman Johnston. He worked with police, the courts and “street people” to reunite hundreds of youth with their families. His main mission was to contact young runaways on the streets and help them return home. His mandate continues today in the hope to reconcile street youth with their families.

National Centre for Missing Adults ( USA ) http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/index.php
National Clearinghouse and support agency for families of missing adults. This service provides an online support group for over 300 families and assists in supporting families to search for loved ones.

6.6. Literature specifically on missing persons

For more information on literature relevant to the experience of having someone missing please visit the FFMPU site.

6.7. Mental Health Issues

People with a mental illness make up a significant proportion of the 35,000 people who go missing from NSW each year. Family and friends left behind may also have a mental illness and stress, such as that caused by someone close to you going missing, can trigger a worsening of symptoms.

Even if family members and friends did not have a pre-existing diagnosis of a mental illness, stress can lead to problems such as depression or anxiety. Some people try all sorts of ways to cope with their feelings; including unhelpful ways such as misusing alcohol and other drugs, excessive gambling, self-harming, etc. Whilst these things might sometimes make you feel better temporarily, in the long-term they cause more problems. If you find any of these unhelpful coping mechanisms are becoming a problem; it is a good idea to get help as early as possible.

Mental Health Information Service - NSW
Ph: 1300 794 991
Address: Level 5, 80 William Street
East Sydney NSW 2011
Email: info@mentalhealth.asn.au
Website: www.mentalhealth.asn.au

Offers a comprehensive information and referral service via telephone or email on any mental health concern; an extensive library of resources is also available. If you have any questions or concerns about mental health, the Information Service is a good place to start.

If you need referral and information outside of office hours, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14. This is a free telephone counselling service, so you can talk to someone at any time of the day or night, seven days a week.

Community Health and Mental Health Centres
NSW community mental health services can help someone who is feeling very depressed and/or suicidal, including assessment, case management, short-term counselling and crisis intervention. If they cannot help you, they will be able to refer you to someone who can.

or your local centre, please see the Emergency, Health and Help section of the White Pages

6.8. References Cited in This Resource

Boss, P. (1999). Ambiguous loss: Learning to live with unresolved grief . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Boss, P. (2002). Ambiguous loss in families of the missing. The Lancet, 360 , s39-s40.

Boss, P. G. (2002). Ambiguous loss: Working with families of the missing. Family Process, 41 (1), 14-17.

Crittenden, N. (2003). What is Personal Construct Psychology? Retrieved 18th Jun. 2003, 2003, from http://www.psyc.uow.edu.au/research/pcp/about.html

Dulwich Centre. (2002). Commonly asked questions about narrative therapy . Retrieved 8th Apr. 2002, from http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au

FFMPU (Families & Friends of Missing Persons Unit). (2001a). Information for families and friends of missing persons (Brochure). Sydney, NSW: NSW Attorney General's Department.

FFMPU (Families & Friends of Missing Persons Unit). (2001b). "It's the hope that hurts": Best practice in counselling models relevant to families and friends of missing persons . Newcastle, NSW: Hunter Institute of Mental Health.

Glassock, G. (2003, 14th Mar.). Managing the impact of loss and grief. Paper presented at the Information Day for Families and Friends of Missing Persons, Arncliffe Uniting Church.

Gumurrii Centre (2004) Young Aboriginal Females Reported Missing to Police: Which Way for Prevention and Service. Griffith University

Heiey, S.P. (1991). Sibling grief: A case report. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 5 (3), 121-127.

Henderson, M., & Henderson, P. (1998). Missing people: Issues for the Australian community . Canberra, ACT: National Missing Persons Unit and the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.

Henderson, M., Henderson, P., & Kiernan, C. (2000). Missing persons: Incidence, issues and impacts. Australian Institute of Criminology Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 144 . Canberra, ACT: Australian Institute of Criminology.

Jacques, L. (2002). To study the international social policy response and provision of services for the families, friends and significant others of people who are missing . Sydney, NSW: The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia.

Jones, B. (1988). Searching for Tony: Profile of a missing person . Richmond, VIC: Spectrum Publications.

National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (2007) Supporting those who are left behind - a counselling framework for health care professionals, Australian Federal Police

Parkes, C.M. (1997). Normal and abnormal responses to stress - A developmental approach . In D. Black, M. Newman, J. Harris-Hendriks & G. Mezey (Eds.), Psychological trauma - A developmental approach . London: Gaskell.

Payne, M. (1995). Understanding "going missing": Issues for social work and social services. British Journal of Social Work, 25 (3), 333-348.

Ranson, D. (1995). Medical issues: Missing persons. Journal of Law and Medicine, 3 (1), 16-18.

Shields, C. (1995). The stone diaries . USA: Penguin.

Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (1999). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: Rationale and description. Death Studies, 23 , 197-224.

Wayland, S (2006) The International approach to counselling and unresolved loss relating to the families of missing persons; NSW