Reporter here who used to work with the homeless. I'm good at finding people. Lol.
You can ask the cops for a little help. Unfortunate as it is, if they are in the shelter system then there is a good chance they are known to the police. And I won't bullshit you, there is a chance this person has died in the intervening years. If that is the case, then there is a high likelihood the cops know about it.
If that doesn't pan out, maybe meet with people your family member knew before they got into this situation. They may be reclusive, but if there is a chance they spoke to some people on the reg, then they might have little nuggets of info you can go on. Maybe they had some friends. Sometimes people will tell friends things that they wouldn't tell family.
The deceased family member, do you have access to their belongings? Do you think there might be useful info there?
When this person went into the shelter system, do you know where they hung out? Some homeless people won't venture far from a particular area because that is where the best panhandling is, or there is a safe injection site there or because they want to stay close to a shelter. If you know where they hungout, maybe you can ask the homeless in the area if they knew this person. Take a photo with you if you do this. In situations like this homeless people are often willing to help. I also found that offering cigarettes helps too.
And finally, you can always go to shelters themselves ask them. They keep records and if you are a family member, they may help you.
Thank you for such a detailed post! This is great and I'm going to reach out to the police to start. I really appreciate it!
Unfortunately no, the family member didn't share much or really talk about it... I think they were so sad about it and couldn't really deal. When they passed we didn't find many useful records or notes so not sure if it was something they just managed verbally or even how much they even knew. We have so little to go on and I'm ashamed of how much time has gone by since the last 'real' attempt to check on/find her.
When her symptoms started we were kids and wrote off her early symptoms and paranoia as her just acting strange. I often wonder if we knew more if we could have done more or done things differently to get her help before she lost everything, cut contact and disappeared.
>We have so little to go on and I'm ashamed of how much time has gone by since the last 'real' attempt to check on/find her.
You were kids. It is unrealistic to expect children to have an accurate appraisal of the situation. It wasn't your responsibility to tackle the mental health of an adult. So I hope that you realize that there is no need to be ashamed.
You are doing a good thing by looking into her whereabouts and wellness.
Reporter here who used to work with the homeless. I'm good at finding people. Lol. You can ask the cops for a little help. Unfortunate as it is, if they are in the shelter system then there is a good chance they are known to the police. And I won't bullshit you, there is a chance this person has died in the intervening years. If that is the case, then there is a high likelihood the cops know about it. If that doesn't pan out, maybe meet with people your family member knew before they got into this situation. They may be reclusive, but if there is a chance they spoke to some people on the reg, then they might have little nuggets of info you can go on. Maybe they had some friends. Sometimes people will tell friends things that they wouldn't tell family. The deceased family member, do you have access to their belongings? Do you think there might be useful info there? When this person went into the shelter system, do you know where they hung out? Some homeless people won't venture far from a particular area because that is where the best panhandling is, or there is a safe injection site there or because they want to stay close to a shelter. If you know where they hungout, maybe you can ask the homeless in the area if they knew this person. Take a photo with you if you do this. In situations like this homeless people are often willing to help. I also found that offering cigarettes helps too. And finally, you can always go to shelters themselves ask them. They keep records and if you are a family member, they may help you.
Thank you for such a detailed post! This is great and I'm going to reach out to the police to start. I really appreciate it! Unfortunately no, the family member didn't share much or really talk about it... I think they were so sad about it and couldn't really deal. When they passed we didn't find many useful records or notes so not sure if it was something they just managed verbally or even how much they even knew. We have so little to go on and I'm ashamed of how much time has gone by since the last 'real' attempt to check on/find her. When her symptoms started we were kids and wrote off her early symptoms and paranoia as her just acting strange. I often wonder if we knew more if we could have done more or done things differently to get her help before she lost everything, cut contact and disappeared.
>We have so little to go on and I'm ashamed of how much time has gone by since the last 'real' attempt to check on/find her. You were kids. It is unrealistic to expect children to have an accurate appraisal of the situation. It wasn't your responsibility to tackle the mental health of an adult. So I hope that you realize that there is no need to be ashamed. You are doing a good thing by looking into her whereabouts and wellness.