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The Salvation Army reunites mother and son.
by Douglas Peacock, Major –
Connie included this reunion picture with her letter.
The Missing Persons Bureau received permission to share the following story. Names have been changed to protect the individuals’ privacy.
When Andrew contacted our office in 2004, he hadn’t seen his mother for over 20 years due to his parents’ divorce. He had tried to search for her on his own but did not have enough information, and his father was unwilling to help him. Andrew was now incarcerated; another inmate told him about our services. He filled out a form with as much information as he had and hoped for the best.
After about a year of searching, we found Andrew’s mother, Connie, who explained that she had tried to get in touch with Andrew when he was a teenager. She decided to stop searching for him when a friend of her ex-husband’s told her not to locate Andrew. After our phone call, we sent Andrew a letter, providing him with his mother’s contact information
A few weeks later Andrew informed us that he had been corresponding with his mother and half-sister and that they were planning to visit him. In December, we received a Christmas card from Andrew in which he wrote:
I spent the last 20 Christmases without my mother and sister. Because of The Salvation Army, I will finally be able to have a Christmas knowing my long lost family.
A few months later, we received a letter from Connie:
In September of last year you contacted me to let me know my son was looking for me. I have been waiting 20 years to have an opportunity to re-establish a relationship with him. If not for you and your organization I would still be waiting. I want to thank you for all your help. I finally got to meet him on Christmas Day. Upon sharing our story with others, their reaction is similar to the one I had—we didn’t know The Salvation Army provided such a service. It was a friend of my son’s who told him about it. God bless you.
The mission of The Salvation Army’s missing persons program is to reunite people in families who wish to find each other, and to offer supportive guidance, search assistance and spiritual support to those involved. For further information contact the Missing Persons Bureau, 180 East Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802, (800) 698-7728, or Douglas.Peacock@usw.salvationarmy.org.
