Charlie had not seen his dad, Chris, for 19 years. Charlie had been 16 years old when his parents split up after his mother’s affair. His dad was devastated and seemed unable to move on from the betrayal. His father became increasingly distant. Charlie feels he was hurt that he and his brother forgave their mother. That he felt cast out.
Quite the opposite was true. Over the years Charlie had tried to find his dad but had got nowhere however he’d never stopped thinking about him. He had trained hard though and has a successful career as a police officer. It was when he had his own baby son that he knew he wanted to do everything in his power to find his dad.
Within a week of taking on Charlie’s search, we had a trace for Chris through the Lexis Nexis data system TraceIQ. Days later our helpline had a call from him. He was barely able to form the words of surprise and elation. As he was extremely nervous that his son would have a lot of bad feeling towards him so we offered to start by passing a message from Charlie.
These are some of his words:
“I’m absolutely certain that this will come like a bolt from the blue. Every day I have thought about you since I last saw you. I was young back then; a confused and hurt teenager who was nothing short of devastated following the breakdown of his parents’ marriage, and losing the family home that I had loved so much.
I was angry about a lot of things. Angry at you, angry at mum and angry at the world I guess? I want you to know that I love you Dad. I have always loved you. No matter what. You are my Dad and you gave me some of the best memories of my life. All of my good memories have you in them.
I thought that I would tell you, I have a one year old son. He looks just like me as a baby! You would absolutely adore him.
I hope that we can speak soon and reconnect Dad. You don’t need to be scared. I just want you back in my life forever. I have missed you so so much. You are loved Dad. You were always loved.”
Charlie and Chris have spoken every week and met for the first time in 19 years in August 2021. Thanks to Missing People and Lexis Nexis they have an opportunity to start a new chapter, together.
Now Charlie and Chris have been reunited, we are still at the other end of the phone if Charlie and his dad Chris ever need us again. We continue to support them.
Thank you for following Charlie’s story and seeing how we can reunite families who have lost contact with each other.
If you would like to help us continue reuniting families like Charlie’s when they have lost touch, you can.
Our TextSafe Service® is a way for us to reach out to a vulnerable missing child or adult and let them know that our confidential helpline services are available to them. By donating £5, you could help guarantee we reach 10 people in crisis and provide them with the support they need and reunite them with their loved ones.
We have launched a regular email so that you can be aware of new missing person appeals and share them far and wide! We are also calling on all Heroes to be the eyes and ears for Missing People on the ground. Your sighting of a missing person could make a difference in a crucial time.
