Identifying and responding to the psychosocial support needs of young people when a loved one is a missing person

"No one gets what this is like for young people because no one asks." (Debra, Study 1)

More than 38,000 people are reported missing to state and territory police in Australia annually, with one to two per cent of those reported who remain missing long-term. The impact on the psychosocial well-being of those left behind of any age is profound. Australian research shows that for every person reported missing in Australia each year, 12 people, on average, are affected in some way. Young people are largely unrecognised within the research, policy, and practice as part of the population that is left behind. They are neither seen nor heard. Their loss remains ambiguous and unresolved, and with little recognition of their presence, their psychosocial support needs are consequently unrecognised and unaddressed.
This thesis explores the experience of young people who have a long-term missing loved one – a father, grandfather, sibling or cousin - bringing the experience of young people when a loved one is missing into the spotlight, to remind others of their presence in families and communities affected by the loss of a missing person, and to inform practice and service provider responses. The research is informed by the construct of ambiguous loss as a theoretical framework, and the related concepts of trauma and loss, coping and resilience. Each young person sits within a family, a community, and a wider societal context.
The research comprised three studies to address the overarching aims and questions. Studies 1 and 2 employed semi-structured interviews with ten young people and eight parents whose lives were impacted by the loss of a missing loved one. These 18 participants are related to nine long-term missing people, who had been missing between two-and-a-half and 43 years, at the time of interview. Study 3 employed an anonymous survey questionnaire targeting service providers coming into contact with families and young people left behind when a loved one is a missing person. It sought information about their response to and understanding of the support needs of young people whose loved one is a missing person.
A phenomenological approach to inquiry and thematic data analysis identified four themes - living with not knowing, recognising young people, a growing awareness, and supporting young people, and revealed a number of significant findings. These findings are: 1) young people experience the loss of a missing loved one as traumatic and distressing; 2) living with not knowing becomes even more challenging for young people when those within the young person's network do not understand the nature of ambiguous loss and its impact on young people; 3) young people feel supported when their presence is recognised and they are purposefully included by those who are able to be emotionally available to them and provide a secure base.
Finally, the study recommends that service providers within the missing persons sector and others who may have contact with those left behind, including law enforcement, educators, and mental health professionals, need to be trauma-informed about the nature and impact of ambiguous loss and to work collaboratively in an interagency context. A trauma-informed approach that recognises and includes young people, and is responsive to their psychosocial support needs delivers best practice.