Special Consular Services

Finding Missing People in the United Kingdom

The U.S. Embassy can assist in locating an American citizen in the United Kingdom in cases of parental child abduction or missing persons cases, or when a friend or loved one has not arrived at a location on the scheduled date and time. The Embassy cannot help you trace your ancestry in the United Kingdom.

The following organizations also may of assistance in tracing people in the United Kingdom. This list is provided as a service to the public and does not constitute a recommendation by the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy cannot accept any responsibility for the professional ability or integrity of the persons whose names appear below. Fees are entirely a matter for agreement between the individual and the organization.

MISSING PERSONS: People go missing for various reasons, be it through personal choice, illness, stress, abduction, or foul play, as well as for drug- or alcohol-related reasons. If someone is missing and you believe they are at risk, the following organizations may be able to assist.

Tracing Missing Persons via UK Government Agencies

UK Police Service
Web: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police
The police service can undertake inquiries to trace persons whose whereabouts are unknown and there are concerns about their safety and welfare. Initial contact should be made with your local police station.

National Missing Persons Helpline
Tel. in UK: 0500-700-700; from overseas: 011-44-20-8392-4545
Web: www.missingpersons.org

The National Missing Persons Helpline provides support and practical help for relatives of missing people, such as contacts who look for vulnerable missing people on the streets, publicity/TV and print media if desired, checking names on a national computerized register of missing people, and an image-enhancing "age progression" computer program designed to update photographs.

UK Army Records Office
Web: http://www2.army.mod.uk/contacts/divisions/records.htm
The Army Records Office can trace British military personnel. The type of trace undertaken depends upon when the individual left military service and the military unit in which he/she served. Please visit the website for more information.

UK Prisoner Location Service
PO Box 2152, Birmingham B15 1SD
Email: prisoner.location.service@hmps.gsi.gov.uk
Fax in the UK: 012-1626-3474; from overseas: 011-44-12-1626-3474
The UK Prison Service can help you trace someone you believe is in prison custody. All inquiries must be in writing and include the full name of person you want to contact, any other names by which the person may have been known, date of birth, and reason for inquiry. If the person is in custody, your details will be passed to the person, and he or she will be asked to give consent for the disclosure of his or her whereabouts.

Other Government Resources

If you know the original address of the individual you are seeking, you can pursue local sources of information, such as the state Office of Vital Records; high school reunion organizers and university alumni associations; the local Probate Office for a will or Letters of Administration for the person if he or she possessed property in the county and is now deceased; local newspapers, for articles, obituaries, death notices, etc.; and the Office of Vital Statistics. Additionally, if you are in the United Kingdom and know in which town or city the missing person may reside, call directory assistance on 192 quoting the person's surname to see if they are listed and have a telephone number.

Electoral Registers

Published annually by the Electoral Registration Officer of each local UK council, these records contain the name and address of each registered voter. Access to these registers differs, but is most often gained through libraries, post offices, council offices, and Citizen Advice Bureaus.

Private Organizations

Private organizations also can provide guidance to assist people in tracing relatives and friends. In addition to the individual information below, you might wish you check out Look4them: http://www.look4them.org.uk/index.html. This website is a compilation of eight major organizations responsible for locating missing persons, including: (1) International Social Services, (2) Salvation Army, (3) Missing People, (4) Reunite, (5) Nocap, (6) British Red Cross, (7) Association of British Investigators, and (8) the UK police department.

Reunite
P.O. Box 7124, Leicester LE1 7XX
Advice line within the UK: 011-6255-6234; from overseas, 011-44-11-6255-5345; fax: 011-6255-6370; fax from overseas: 011-44-11-6255-6370
Email: reunite@dircon.co.uk
Reunite provides advice to parents involved in international custody disputes and parental abduction. Reunite advises both the left-behind parent and the parent with the child(ren).

Red Cross UK
London branch: 10th Floor, Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP
Tel within the UK: 020-7793-3360; from overseas: 011-44-20-7793-3360; fax within the UK: 020-7793-3361; fax from overseas: 011-44-20-7793-3361
Web: www.redcross.org.uk
The Red Cross offers a tracing and communication service to families who have been separated due to war or natural disaster. You may locate your local Red Cross office at the above website.

Association of British Investigators
27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3XX
Tel within the UK: 087-1474-0006; from overseas: 011-44-20-7262-9586
Email: info@theabi.org.uk
Web: www.theabi.org.uk
The Association of British Investigators maintains a list of professional, private investigators to conduct searches on behalf of individuals.

Adoption/Separated Family

Family members sometimes lose touch with one another in non-emergency situations, including adoption, divorce, and out-of-wedlock births. These organizations can help find family when the sought person is not considered at-risk.

International Social Services (ISS)
Cranmer House, 39 Brixton Road, London SW9 6DD
Tel within the UK: 020-7735-8941; from overseas: 011-44-20-7735-8941
ISS is a professional social work agency, which has a department specializing in tracing relatives in other countries. ISS can help in the following situations:
• Where there has been adoption and a search is needed to find the birth parents.
• Where the child was brought up by one parent only and is now (as an adult) seeking to re-establish contact with the other parent, or when a parent has lost contact with a child.
• Where there has been disruption in the family leading to separation or divorce.

ISS cannot trace friends or assist in cases where child support is the prime concern. There is a charge for the service.

NORCAP
112 Church Road, Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1LU
Tel within the UK: 018-6587-5000; from overseas, 011-44-18-6587-5000
Web: www.norcap.org.uk
NORCAP assists adult children or parents who wish to locate natural families.

The Salvation Army
101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN
Tel within the UK: 020-7367-4747; from overseas: 011-44-20-7367-4747
Web: www.salvationarmy.org.uk/familytracing
The Salvation Army’s Family Tracing Service assists families in locating missing adults. They do not provide location services for fathers of children born out of wedlock, non-relatives, adoption cases, or genealogy research.

Traceline
PO Box 106, Southport PR8 82WA
Tel within the UK: 015-1471-4811; from overseas: 011-44-15-1471-4811; fax within the UK: 017-0456-3354; fax from overseas: 011-44-17-0456-3354
Traceline uses National Health Service records to help re-establish contact between family or same-sex friends who have lost touch. The records cover England and Wales. They also forward letters to sought person. Charges apply.

War Babes
15 Plough Ave, South Woodgate, Birmingham B32 3TQ
Tel within the UK: 012-1608-5108; from overseas: 011-44-12-1608-5108
War Babes assists children or parents locate natural families who were conceived during the war years.

Kith & Kin Research
Green Gables, Willow Grove, Fair Oak, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO50 7BJ
Tel within the UK: 023-8069-2421; from overseas: 011-44-23-8069-2421
Email: info@kithandkinresearch.com
Kith & Kin Research locates family members.

Genealogy

The following organizations specialize in researching family trees and do not actually locate missing people. We have selected a few major resources from the myriad genealogy services. For a more complete listing, please conduct an online search.

Family History Centres
www.familysearch.org
London center: Hyde Park Chapel, 64-68 Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PA
Tel within the UK: 020-7589-8561; from overseas: 011-44-20-7589-8561

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints At Family History Centers in both the United Kingdom and the United States, usually located within Latter-Day Saint churches, you can find, or obtain, census returns, wills, church records, etc., from most parts of the world. In addition, you can consult the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and the Ancestral File.

The IGI is a worldwide index of approximately 187 million names of deceased persons. This index does not contain records of living persons. The Ancestral File contains genealogical data on millions of individuals from many countries, including information on names, dates and places of birth, marriages, and deaths.

For a full list of Family History Centers, contact: The Family History Library, 35 North West Temple St., Salt Lake City, Utah 84150; Tel: 801-240-2584.

Alternatively, your local center can be located online. In addition, you may consult the International Genealogical Index, which is a database of genealogical records, compiled from several sources, and maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Originally created in 1969, the index was intended to help track the performance of temple ordinances for the deceased. It can be found online at: http://www.familysearch.org/ENG/search/igi/search_igi.asp . Another resource is the Ancestral File, which also contains millions of names. It can be found online at: http://www.familysearch.org .

The Society of Genealogists
14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA
Tel within the UK: 020-7251-8799; from overseas: 011-44-20-7251-8799
Web: www.sog.org.uk
The Society of Genealogists maintains an extensive collection of family histories, civil registration, census material, etc.

Achievements of Canterbury
79-82 Northgate, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1BA
Tel within the UK: 012-2746-2618; from overseas: 011-44-12-2746-2618
Web: www.achievements.co.uk

The National Archives
Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU
Tel within the UK: 020-8876-3444; from overseas: 011-44-20-8876-3444
Web: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
The National Archives of England, Wales, and the United Kingdom has one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1,000 years of British history, from Domesday Book of 1086 to government papers recently released. Family histories can be traced by searching the archives.

Family Records Centre
Email: webmaster@familyrecords.gov.uk
Web: www.familyrecords.gov.uk
An official UK Government website assisting those looking for family records.

The Association of Genealogists and Record Agents (AGRA)
Email: agra@agra.org.uk
Web: www.agra.org.uk
AGRA maintains a list of genealogists who will undertake family tree research for a fee.

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