Background

The Salvation Army Family Tracing Services

 Family Tracing Services, Special Search Service, Post Adoption Services

* How long has this work been going?

* Where did it start?

* What motivated The Salvation Army to start this work?

 
The work of tracing family members goes back to the beginning of the Army’s Social Programme and actually started in 1885 as a result of a need seen by the founder of The Salvation Army, William Booth.
In the 1870’s and 1880’s there was severe poverty in the rural areas of the United Kingdom and in the larger provincial cities such as Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester. At that time people began making their way to London, looking for work and a better life. Instead they found problems – financial problems, unemployment and homelessness. Many of these people approached The Salvation Army for assistance. Many were found to be in a sad situation by Salvation Army Officers who were working in the slums of London. Meanwhile, in the provinces, their families were also approaching the local Salvation Army; they were asking “My husband, son, daughter, brother, etc, went to London and we haven’t heard a word for months. Can The Salvation Army help?” William Booth recognized that there was a problem, which required not only material but also moral and spiritual support.

William Booth put the matter in the hands of his daughter-in-law Florence, and with his usual approach to challenges, told her “Do something”. So in 1885 “Mrs Booth’s Enquiry Bureau” was started.
As The Salvation Army expanded and became international so did the work of tracing people in order to reunite them with their families. Today The Salvation Army tracing service operates in more than 100 countries.

In New South Wales the family tracing work commenced operation on 12 August 1920 and, today a good proportion of the work still has an international focus. Currently, the NSW Family Tracing Service receives approximately 100 new search requests every month. It is estimated that about 85% of searches are successful. While some searches are quite straight forward, the majority of our searches require a fair bit of detective work.  This is time consuming and it means that some searches can take quite a while to get a result.

Name variations.

The Salvation Army Family Tracing Services are in over 100 countries and may use different names in different parts of the world.  The Salvo's Family Tracing Service may also be listed as a Missing Person's Service or Investigation Bureau.

In Australia, we use the name Family Tracing Service.  Some of the Family Tracing offices in Australia and overseas will conduct adoption searches and have a Post Adoption Service.  The NSW office also has the Special Search Service.

Contact Us

familytracingservicensw@aue.salvationarmy.org

(02) 9211 0277