Missing People is delighted that Patricia Ferguson MSP has tabled a Scottish Parliamentary Motion in support of the Missing Rights campaign.

The Motion welcomes the Missing Rights campaign and its aim to improve the support available to families of missing people. The Motion also recognises the important contribution that the People’s Postcode Lottery makes to the charity’s work in Scotland. It would be wonderful to get as many MSPs as possible to sign up to the Motion, to show just how much support there is for getting families of missing people the full range of support they so desperately need. You can read the text of the Motion here.

If you live in Scotland and would like to ask your MSP to sign, we have prepared a template email which outlines the Missing Rights campaign and asks them to support the Motion. This can be found below, and you can either cut and paste the text into an email or use it as a model for your own message. The email will be most powerful if you can personalise it and – if you have been touched by the missing persons issue – feel free to include any details of your own experience.

To find out who your MSP is and how to contact them, please click here, and make sure to send your address with your message so that they can see that you are one of their constituents.

Once you have sent your own email, please pass this weblink on to any friends and family who may also like to get involved. Together, with your help, we can ensure that families of missing people feel supported as they face the pain of having a missing loved one.

If you have any questions about contacting your MSP around the Missing Rights campaign, please contact Holly Towell at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 020 8392 4566.

*************** 

Dear NAME MSP,

As one of your constituents, I am writing to ask that you show your support for the charity Missing People’s Missing Rights campaign by signing Scottish Parliamentary Motion S3M-7991.

The Missing Rights campaign calls for families of missing people to have access to specialist emotional, practical and legal support to help them deal with the unique challenges they face. Never has this been more important – the campaign comes as new figures reveal that more than an astonishing 350,000 reports of missing people were made across the United Kingdom last year, with 25,000 of these estimated to have been made in Scotland.

We must support the families that these missing adults and children leave behind.

Those affected can face a range of problems, including being forced into otherwise avoidable debt, which can lead to their homes being seized, jobs being lost, suicidal thoughts, social stigma and family breakdown. The Missing Rights campaign has three aims based upon Missing People’s research to help these families deal with the unique emotional, practical and legal challenges they face. Together, we want:

• 1. Families of missing people to know that everything possible is being done to find their missing loved one
• 2. Families affected by a disappearance to have access to support
• 3. Families left behind to be spared the additional pain of unnecessary financial and legal bureaucracy

You can find out more about the work of the charity – which provides its services in Scotland with the kind support of the People’s Postcode Lottery – at www.missingpeople.org.uk, along with details of how the charity plans to achieve the campaign aims. This includes projects with the banking and insurance sectors and the police to ensure their policies account for the needs of families of missing people.

I believe it is critically important to help these families, and so I ask you to sign Motion S3M-7991 in support of the Missing Rights campaign. Together we can ensure that families of missing people feel supported as they face the pain of having a missing loved one.

Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to your reply.

With best wishes,

NAME