Support for family and friends

When someone you love goes missing, the impact can be overwhelming. Our Family Support team offer free and confidential help for families and friends of missing people.

About family support

We’ve been supporting families and friends of missing people for over 30 years. We understand the challenges and emotions that you face. For some, this lasts for hours. For others, much longer.

Our Family Support team are here, for free and in confidence, to support anyone who is missing a loved one or someone they care for. Our team can offer valuable, practical advice and information in those early hours as well as advocacy and emotional support. To contact us, email our Family Support Teamrequest contact from the team, or call or text 116 000.

Help

We are used to supporting lots of different types of people. You might be a family member, friend, colleague, carer or acquaintance. No matter, we are here for you.

We offer daily support via our free and confidential helpline, available to anyone affected by someone going missing.

Our dedicated Family Support Team can assign you a Family Support Worker, who will keep in touch as much as you need.

Our unique counselling service is for families and friends who are struggling to cope with a disappearance.

We know that meeting others with similar experiences is important. We have a weekly online social group, plus other events throughout the year.

We know that meeting others with similar experiences is important. We have a weekly online social group, plus other events throughout the year.

For many people. writing or talking about their experience can be very valuable. We welcome people sharing with their experience or thoughts through writing.

Talk to someone

If you’re worried about someone who is missing, our helpline team are here to listen and support you.

Helpful guides

Read more about the unique type of loss that people experience when someone they care about is missing.

If you are worried about someone, you might need to report them missing to the police. Find out how to do this.

Find out how you can use different types of publicity to widen the search for your missing person.

If you have lost contact with a close relative, our tracing service might be able to help you to reconnect.

We know lots of households who report a missing person, have children within them, and that the impact of worrying about someone being missing can be significant for a child.

Read more about how to help and care for people when someone in their life goes missing.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Who is this for?

    Family support is open to all those who have a relationship with a missing person. Immediate and distant family, friends and work colleagues of a missing person. We know the emotional toll of a disappearance can be widespread and uniquely challenging, and we want to be there for all people impacted.

  • What support can we offer?

    Our Family Support team will always seek to provide tailored support.

    Whatever stage you are at in your journey, we can support you via:

    • Practical guidance on how to publicise your missing loved one.
    • Emotional support to talk about your experience.
    • Advocacy and referrals into additional services.
    • Access and bond with a community with lived experience of a missing loved one.
  • When is the service open?

    Monday 10am – 6pm
    Tuesday 10am – 6pm
    Wednesday 10am – 6pm
    Thursday 10am – 6pm
    Friday 10am – 6pm

Read other people's experiences

You are not alone. Read stories of other people who have experienced the trauma of having someone close to them go missing.