Missing People Reg charity no: 1020419

Missing People, the UK charity working with young runaways, missing and unidentified people, their families and others who care for them, it provides ongoing support to around 2,000 families each year and directly finds 10 missing people each week.

• A national 24 hour helpline for people who are missing someone.
• Support, advice and guidance, and practical help to families of missing people.
• Publicity in the media: on TV, newspapers, radio and other media including Teletext and MoMedia plasma screens on buses for missing people.
• A confidential national computerised register of missing people.
• Runaway Helpline - A 24 hour confidential helpline for runaways, offering help and advice to young people who have run away from home or care, or who have been forced to leave.
• Message Home - A unique confidential service offering help, advice and support to adults who are missing. Message Home is a 24 hour Freefone service that helps people contact their family or carers via a message or three-way call.
• Identification - A specialist service offered by Missing People to support police, coroners, hospitals and social services to resolve cases of unidentified people (alive or dead).

Missing People has recently undertaken a research project looking at the experiences of, and impacts on, families of missing people. This research has highlighted a number of ways in which families are affected when someone disappears.

Families reported a range of emotional and social impacts; losing a family member without knowing what has happened to them is an ongoing and traumatic experience. Not knowing what has happened means that families struggle to cope with the loss.

A disappearance affects every aspect of life, and can even disrupt family relationships and cause problems at work. For person who goes missing, a number of family members are likely to be affected.

Families also report financial and legal problems. When the missing person’s income is lost families can suffer extreme consequences. Legally the situation can be unclear and complex, and can lead to increased anxiety for traumatised families.

The charity Missing People is here to offer support to families during this difficult period. As well as actively searching for the missing, the charity provides a facility for the public to report sightings and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All calls are confidential.

Video appeals for missing Luke Durbin, Nicola Payne, Philip Fudge and Carmel Fenech.

You can make a donation to the charity by calling the helpline 0500 700 700 or online.