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NATIONAL MISSING PERSONS WEEK
Statistics
- Each year 30,000 missing persons are reported to The Salvation Army,
the Police and other agencies in Australia
- Every day, The Salvation Army Family Tracing Service in Australia
locates an average of 6 people.
- The Salvation Army completes successfully 75% of the Family
Tracing requests we receive.
- World record for the longest time a family has been separated
before being reunited is 86 years. The Salvation Army in the UK was asked to help a woman find her family
after she learned that her birth parents were itinerant actors who had
three other children. We were able to locate first a nephew, and he put us
in contact with his mother and her younger sister. After 86 years the
three sisters are planning a reunion.
- Studies show that for every
missing person, there is an average of 12 people who are affected by the
stress of not knowing where they are. The anxiety experienced by parents who have a missing child is especially
intense. Often we hear parents say, "I don't want to interfere in their
life, I just want to know they are okay."
The primary reasons for missing persons are:
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50% - marital or family breakdown
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16% - moved addresses and have had no
contact
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5% - emigration overseas and loss of
contact
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4% - placed in a home and siblings or
parents lose contact
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3% - employment interstate and lack of
contact
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2% - period in prison, or alcohol and drug
usage
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1% - illness, stress or psychiatric
problems
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11% - miscellaneous
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