On March 30th, The Mirror launched the Missed campaign on Mother’s Day to advocate for better support and care for the 170,000 individuals who go missing annually in the UK, including 75,000 children, and to assist their families. Collaborating with the national charity Missing People, our goal is to raise awareness and bring at least one person home or to safety by 2025 by sharing their poignant stories.
In a successful outcome in May, we covered the story of 17-year-old Deante James, who had gone missing from his home in London and was later found safe after our article was published. Deante’s mother, Vandana, expressed her gratitude to The Mirror, stating, “When I got the call from the police that he’d been found, I was overjoyed – I couldn’t stop crying. Thanks so much for everything the Mirror has done.”
Our campaign has highlighted numerous missing persons cases since its inception. On Mother’s Day, four mothers, Julie Davis, Christine Durand, Nerissa Tivy, and Sharon Lee, shared their heartfelt stories in the hope that our campaign could aid in locating their missing children after years of searching.
Moving forward to Father’s Day in June, children mourning their missing fathers expressed their desire to embrace them on that special day. Individuals like five-year-old Dottie, eight-year-old April, 18-year-old Chanel, 21-year-old Dougie, and 41-year-old Tessa, lent their voices in support of The Mirror’s Missed campaign, urging their fathers to return home.
Furthermore, The Mirror has introduced a live interactive map that allows the public to report sightings of missing persons confidentially and share information easily on social media. By zooming into specific areas, users can view the number of missing individuals in that region, along with photos, names, ages, and the duration of their disappearance.
Our campaign has now been shortlisted for the 2025 Making a Difference Award, organized by the News Media Association, during Journalism Matters Week. With someone disappearing every 90 seconds in the UK, we emphasize the importance of our campaign, urging the government to release a new strategy for missing children and adults to ensure the involvement of police, health, and social care services. We advocate for investment in prevention for high-risk missing individuals and support for every missing individual upon their return.
We urge our dedicated readers to participate and make a difference by voting for our Missed campaign before 5 pm on Thursday, November 6. For those who missed the voting link, you can access it by visiting the following link: [https://newsmediauk.org/making-a-difference-vote-2025/](https://newsmediauk.org/making-a-difference-vote-2025/). Remember to select the National Media button on the page and follow the instructions to vote for The Mirror’s Missed campaign.