The Salvation Army is appealing to families with a missing relative to begin the process of reuniting their families during the month of May, the Missing Person’s Awareness Month.

|TOP|With over 16 million people in the UK estimated to be out of touch with at least one family member, The Salvation Army is urging families to contact its Family Tracing Service in a first step towards re-establishing contact.

“People lose touch with family members for a variety of reasons - family breakdown, parental separation/divorce, family arguments - in fact 40% of cases we deal with are simply due to people neglecting to keep in touch,” commented Major Mike Sebbage, Director of The Salvation Army's Family Tracing Service.

“Whatever the reason for family separation, it's important that affected people get in contact with us today, because with an 85% success rate, the likelihood is that we'll be able to help reunite that family.”

|AD|An NOP poll commissioned by The Salvation Army found that a substantial three quarters of people who do wish to trace a relative have not yet attempted to find them yet, with a possible reason being that they are unsure of where to begin tracing someone.

The Salvation Army is using Missing Person’s Awareness Month to raise awareness among families with missing members of the options available to them as well as the range of organisations that already exist to help in re-establishing contact with these missing family members.

The Salvation Army’s Family Tracing Service deals with around 3,000 cases each year and reunites on average around 10 people each working day making it one of the largest family tracing services in the world.

“The Salvation Army works in over 700 communities across the UK and sees at first hand the importance of community life and the human need for a sense of belonging. Family relationships provide that sense of belonging and are one of the building blocks of society,” said the church on its website.

“The Salvation Army is committed through its social work programmes, its church programmes, and its Family Tracing Service, to facilitating and encouraging community and family life.”