Private investigation isn’t just about locating people who are on the run or people who ‘don’t want to be found’. Often we’re tasked to find people who didn’t know they were lost in the first place. This is why we are sharing one of our favorites… Reuniting a Family: Gary’s Story
This was the case for Gary, where we were able to reunite him with his birth parents. Gary was adopted at birth, and although he good loving, adopted parents, after 45 years and a family of his own, he felt a gap. He realized that he wants to find natural parents. He contacted us to see if we could help, and we said yes.
However, he had very limited information available. This isn’t a huge hindrance for a team like ours, however, if you’re considering finding someone from your past, the more information you have the greater our chances are of finding them.
We performed extensive searches to find Gary’s parents, it was some good news as well as some bad news. We found that Gary’s mother had passed away from cancer 5 years earlier. Although, the great news is that we found Gary’s father. He was in a nursing home in country Victoria, with early signs of dementia. Luckily, for Gary, he still remembered him, and they got the opportunity to re-meet and reconnect.
They soon realised they had a lot in common: hobbies, sports, appearance, mannerisms. It was a great day for both Gary and his birth father. Gary left the nursing home feeling complete and satisfied, as though a hole in his life had been filled. It can be nerve-racking doing this, for both Gary and for us. For our client, it’s life-changing.
Imagine meeting your birth father at 45? Although, for us, you have to take into consideration that we find out the information before our client does, and that can be nerve-racking also. Although we did find Gary’s father, delivering the information about his mother was incredibly hard, and was also incredibly hard for Gary also. But that’s part of the locating process.
Which is why we wanted to give some advice on what to consider before locating someone:
Why do you want to locate this person?
We locate people for both their business life as well as their personal life, is it a legitimate reason? There are legalities to locating people (which are below) that need to be considered before we step into this process. If you’re not sure, call us and we can help confirm.
Have you considered how they’ll feel?
Consider how you will respond if they reject you once you end up making contact. Is the reason you haven’t been in contact for so long because they didn’t want to be? Because although you may want to reconnect, the other person may not. For Gary and his father, it was a mutual desire, and a happy ending. However, we’ve also found that some don’t want to be found and reject our clients.
Are you prepared for the worst?
Not every reunion is a happy one, and you need to be prepared to walk into a range of results. We’ve seen the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking, so you need to be prepared for any scenario. You need to mentally prepare yourself for the worst result possible because it could occur. We’ve often been tasked with locating family members, old high school friends, old army friends etc, and often the person has passed away, and that can be difficult, so you need to prepare yourself for any news.
Can’t I just do this myself?
Although you might think you’re quite the Facebook investigator, locating someone comes with much greater difficulty and implications than you think.
But the big question is, is this legal? Provided that there are no intervention orders in place, we have every right to make efforts to locate any person, given the right reason. However, you need to use a licensed Private Investigator, rather than DIY, as you can be charged with stalking. We will always ask a client why they want us to skip trace somebody. Because the Law requires that we have a valid, legitimate reason. So, think again before you try locate someone – but trust us, our success rate will be much higher.
Whether it be for business or for your own peace of mind, locating someone could potentially change your life. Locating others is a big part of what we do, which is why if you or anyone you know has a similar story to Gary, we want to help.
Down Under Investigations operate Australia-wide, with a network of agents to ensure your matter is handled professionally, quickly and at a very reasonable rate. Please contact us for more information.