Missing Person Investigations
Remember that your loved one may not call home when first getting to China. Overseas calls can be tricky and usually involve buying a phone card, which may be complicated if language is an issue.
The first step, after talking to family and friends, will be to contact your Consulate in the city closest to where you expect your loved one to be. Do a Google search for your country and "consulate in china" to find the contact information. The Consulate can check their records for information regarding your loved one. Not everyone is registered with the Consulate, but it is one place to check.
If there is no record, the Consulate may be willing to check immigration records to see if your loved one is still within China. This will take a few days. If there is no record of your loved one leaving China and the Consulate is unable to help in a timely fashion, we can jump in.
We start by chasing down any available leads. Our street savvy investigators go to known locations. We talk to friends, neighbors, schools, building managers, local store proprietors. We show photos and gather information about possible whereabouts. We coordinate with police and contact hospitals. We put up flyers and post to relevant internet sites in Chinese and your language in order to reach the appropriate communities and to get the word out. If necessary, we coordinate with local and national media to bring more light on the disappearance. We sincerely hope you are not faced having to look for a missing loved one, but if you are, we can help.
Missing Persons – By Choice: Some people who are missing choose not to contact family and friends. They do not want to be found for whatever reason. Because of that, our policy for missing persons over the age of 18 is to locate them as requested, with the understanding that we will contact the missing person on your behalf and ask them if we can put you in touch with them. We will pass along any message or letter you may have for them, but we will not reveal their contact information without their permission. At a minimum, what we can do is let you know if they are doing okay, and that they asked not to be contacted. Hopefully that will not be necessary and we will be able to call you right then and there and hand the phone to your loved one to speak with you.