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Introduction
There is limited information on the actual number of those that ‘go missing’ each year in Australia and what does exist, refers only to those reported to police. Anecdotal evidence suggests far more ‘go missing’ and, for a variety of reasons, are not reported to authorities.
In Australia, one person is reported missing every 18 minutes (Henderson & Henderson, 1997). Although 99% of these people are found (85% within one week, 95% within one month), the whereabouts of 300 people are still unknown six months after their disappearance (Henderson & Henderson, 1997). In around one-third of these cases, the person had gone missing before.
The population of Australia’s missing people is divided into children/young people (55%) and adults (45%), with approximately equal numbers of males and females involved (Henderson & Henderson, 1997).
For someone to be listed as a missing person, there first need to be searchers. Thus, at the risk of stating the obvious, it is necessary for a person or persons to register as searching for a missing person for that person to be included in official counts as missing. Many individuals lose touch with family and friends and for all intents and purposes are missing. However, because no one registers an interest in finding the individual, they are not officially missing. Thus to be ‘missing’ in an official sense, three criteria need to be met:
2 A person cannot be located,
3 A person or persons wish the individual located, and
1 The concern is registered with an authority - usually the police.
Examples of those not meeting the criteria and thus deflating the figures are many. Older teenagers in conflict with parents, departing spouses, absconding parents, migrating siblings, children surrendered to adoption, people in financial crisis etc are just some of those that ‘go missing’ and yet do not necessarily fulfil criteria to be counted as officially missing, largely because no one has registered a serious interest in having them located.
Another large group of people that ‘go missing’ each year and are not reported to the authorities, are those where family and friends expect the ‘missing’ person to return in the immediate future and make a decision not to report. Given that the statistics indicate almost 99% of those that ‘go missing’ are located or ‘self locate’ within a short time span, those that make such a judgment are, in all probability, relatively secure in their decision particularly when the person has a history of ‘going missing’ on prior occasions.
There are of course many others that could be described as ‘missing’ with family and loved ones interested in their location at levels of intensity ranging from curious to urgent. Situations where a person might wonder “whatever happened to Aunty Flo?”, while in a technical sense could be described as a ‘missing’ person scenario, while no one is actively searching, aside from perhaps those with genealogical interests, the matter is not reported. On the other hand, many adopted (and the mothers who surrendered them, often under social duress) continue their search also often without registering their interest with the police. To this group could be added those who search for loved ones lost in war, refugees, migrant families etc all who search through various mechanisms without inclusion in official figures but not without the pain and anguish associated with their despair.
While the reasons individuals ‘go missing’ are almost as many as the number who go missing, there are common themes in the anxiety, anguish and despair felt by those who seek their return. Almost invariably it is the suddenness and inexplicability of the disappearance that is the source of anxiety and it is these who may well seek counselling and support.
As alluded to above, at least one person disappears without trace in Australia every day. Most of the family and friends of these people will obtain support and counsel from each other and those involved in the early stages of searching. Some will require trauma counselling in the immediate days following the discovery of their loved one’s disappearance while for others there will be a need for longer term support often delivered at times when triggers unsettle their uneasy emotional balance. These people live with the pain of not knowing, hoping against hope, fearing the worst and struggling with the ambiguity of the designation afforded their loved one as ‘missing’, an ambiguity that implies the possibility of rediscovery.
The number of families and friends of missing persons seeking counselling at any one time is likely to be small relative to the more common areas of psychological need. However, the complexity of this group’s dilemma, the absence of research and the lack of fit with many of the common theoretical models touching on loss, demand that those offering counselling to the families and friends of missing persons be highly experienced and aware of the many complex issues involved.
The Henderson Report (Henderson & Henderson, 1997), based on interviews with the family and friends of missing persons and consultations with government and non-government agencies indicated priority areas for action, many relating to support and counselling needs. Some of these were:-
- Specialised training in unresolved grief counselling and missing person support needs,
- Training in missing person issues for telephone counsellors,
- Promoting understanding of missing person issues among special need support groups, and
- Establishment of specialised self-help groups for families of long term missing persons.
The recognition that family and friends of missing persons require a unique understanding by counsellors suggests the need for education and training to ensure these often vulnerable people get only the best of support and professional services to avoid adding to their already enormous burden. Unfortunately the search for support and counselling by family and friends of missing persons brings anecdotal reports of less than satisfying experiences that range from the well meaning but unhelpful to the bizarre. There thus exists the need to ensure that what can be done is done to ensure an informed pool of high quality counsellors are available to be recommended by the Families and Friends of Missing Persons Unit.
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