“That’s the hardest thing, coming home again. Going away is easy.”
Katie (not her real name) was missing for three days. Her words point to a problem that is often overlooked: finding a missing person is only part of the challenge. Supporting their return home is just as important.
For years, police responses to missing people centred on the search: where someone was last seen, how far they might travel, and how quickly they could be found.
Research led by the University of Glasgow’s Professor Hester Parr helped change that, showing that what happens when someone comes back can matter just as much.
An opportunity for support
By drawing on the voices of returned missing people and their families, her work helped shift police and charity practice towards return as a moment of intervention. Today, someone reported missing in the UK can expect a trained professional to discuss what happened, try to understand why they left and identify support to reduce the risk of it happening again.
In Scotland, this approach has contributed to a wider effort behind a striking 36% reduction in missing person investigations over the past decade.
Moving beyond statistics
In the UK, one person is reported as missing every 90 seconds. Most return, but each case still takes up significant police time and causes stress and worry for family and friends.
For decades, police searches were guided by data and statistics such as age, sex and where someone was last seen. Once someone was found, officers carried out a ‘safe and well check’, which essentially confirmed they had not come to any harm.
Professor Parr says:
People who go missing are often very vulnerable. It’s estimated that around 80 per cent of adult missing people have some kind of mental health crisis. We saw there was a missed opportunity for increasing understanding of missing journeys, to explore where people went and why. And, importantly, help prevent people going missing again.
Listening to the voices of missing people and their families
Between 2011 and 2014, the ESRC-funded Geographies of Missing People study set out to change that by listening closely to returned missing people and their families.
Working with Police Scotland, the UK Missing Persons Unit and the charity Missing People, Professor Parr and her team carried out in-depth interviews exploring why people left, how they navigated their journey while away, and how it felt to return.
This qualitative data shed light on the social and spatial complexities involved. Many people did not think of themselves as ‘missing’ and often felt police officers had not handled their return well. The research showed that return was not a single moment, but a process that needed support.
Turning testimonies into training
To make those insights practical for busy police officers, the research team produced a substantial report on the lessons from missing journeys and turned interviews into composite ‘stories’ drawn from multiple real accounts.
The stories helped humanise the person behind the label ‘misper’ (missing person). “They showed the nuance and complexity of what a missing journey looked like from the inside, enabling officers to connect and empathise,” explains Professor Parr.
That material fed into police reports, seminars and training. It informed Police Scotland’s Standard Operating Procedures, as well as guidance in England and Wales, and helped encourage more empathetic practice towards returning missing people. It also helped shape Scotland’s National Missing Persons Framework in both 2017 and 2025, a multi-agency guide used by police, local authorities, health services and charities.
A new approach to return
Inspector Alasdair Paterson from Police Scotland’s National Missing Persons Unit says:
[The research] helped to develop a better understanding of the reasons why people are reported missing and helps us plan and respond more effectively. This approach, championed by the framework, has contributed to a welcome decrease in overall missing person investigations.
It is important to remember that these decreases not only represent a reduction on demand but also a reduction of people being exposed to the risks of harms that can be associated with a missing episode.
Crucially, he says, the research highlighted the importance of a ‘return discussion’: a structured but compassionate conversation after someone comes back. “Police Scotland directly responded to this evidence by embedding ‘return discussions’ in our core national guidance documents,” he says. “In 2026, there is an expectation that all people recorded as missing can expect a return discussion by a trained officer in a manner consistent with national good practice and the National Framework.”
Professor Parr also worked with the Missing People charity on return discussion training for hundreds of professionals across different sectors. Evaluation showed that all trainees felt better able to carry out such discussions.
What families need when someone comes back
The project also explored what missing and return felt like for relatives. As Gail (not her real name), whose daughter went missing, explains. “This kind of thing can happen to the most normal, the most ordinary families, something just comes like a bolt of lightning.”
Families described relief when their loved one came back, but also uncertainty: whether to ask questions, how to rebuild trust, and how to respond if it happened again. “We found there’s a huge amount of complexity to a return from a family member’s point of view, and also a need for support for them,” says Professor Parr.
That need for support has helped shape charity practice too. Missing People has expanded aftercare support for returned missing people and families.
Susanah Drury, Director of Policy and Development at Missing People, adds “Some of our own focus as a charity shifted as a result of the project and it informed our own research, including When the Search is Over, a study into the process of returning from missing.”
From being found to being understood
Being reported as missing remains a complex and evolving challenge, and Professor Parr continues to work on it as an invited chair of a Scottish Government working group on missing people.
“In an era of austerity where the resources of all services are stretched, it’s very easy for missing people to fall through the cracks. It’s a problem that needs constant attention and innovation,” she says.
One example of this is a lived experience advisory board which is being established for the Scottish Government working group Professor Parr chairs. It will help ensure the voices of missing people and families remain central to professional responses, and that return is treated not just as the moment someone is found, but as the moment they can begin to be understood.
Support from ESRC
ESRC funding and support helped Professor Parr and her team develop the research and translate it into real-world change. The initial study, Geographies of Missing People received an ESRC grant. Its success led to prizes including the ESRC Celebrating Impact Award in 2015 (YouTube). Professor Parr used the prize money to help mobilise its impact, through further training and networking.