For a number of years WayAhead has been associated with the Families and Friends of Missing Persons Unit at the NSW Department of Justice through participation on their Interagency Forum Meeting. The unit is one of a kind in Australia and it researches, supports, counsels and works closely with people who are affected by the loss of a missing person. WayAhead sit on the committee with representatives from various organisations such as Australian Red Cross, Salvation Army, NSW Police, Federal Police and International Social Service Australia.
In Australia approximately 35,000 are reported missing each year. The majority are located within a short time but there remain 1600 long term missing people.
Who is at Risk
Identified groups who are seen as more at risk of going missing are
- young people under 18 years who account for over half of the missing persons’ reports;
- people experiencing mental health problems that may impact their problem solving abilities and
- older people with dementia or memory loss that wander and become lost.
Report someone missing immediately
At the most recent interagency meeting it was again mentioned that people think that they have to wait 24hrs before they report a missing person to the police. This is completely wrong. If someone goes missing you can report it straight away. A risk assessment will be done immediately and action taken. This is particularly important for anyone deemed as high risk.
For whatever reason people go missing, for those left at home, it is never ending heartbreak. This impacted me when I read the minutes of an earlier meeting. In the information sharing part of the minutes was written a comment from Dave (not his real name) “Spoke about moving house, no longer able to ‘Leave the light on’ for his missing loved one.”