sky-blue-phoenix:

taptaptapping-on-the-glass:

deluxetrashqueen:

Daily reminder that “Missing Person” posts are a common and often effective method that abusers use to find their victims that have run away from them. Also used to find people in the witness protection program.  

If you see a “missing person” post with a number that is not just 911 on it, be very wary. And if you do see someone who is supposedly missing, call the police, NOT the number provided on the post. I trust the police as little as anyone but they’ll at least be able to tell you if that person is actually missing and it has less of a chance of giving information to a possible abuser. 

A couple of red flags I’ve noticed:

• Abusers claiming their victims are mentally ill or schizophrenic, to explain why they might not want to come back
• Abusers giving any excuse to explain why their victims may not come back really
• Abusers telling you not to approach their victims if you see them, or limit your communication with them
• Abusers telling you not to mention them to their victims at all
• Abusers claiming that their victims aren’t safe with their family or friends
• Abusers claiming their victims are being threatened away from them

(Feel free to add on)

Add-ons to the list of red flags from my mother, a psychologist who has worked with victims of domestic abuse:

• Abusers claiming their victim has a history of self-harm that leaves bruises is always a red flag (except in the case of autistic children, but even then, call 911, not the abuser)
• Abusers claiming their (POC) victim doesn’t understand English and so you shouldn’t try to communicate with them/trust anything they say is not uncommon for human traffickers
• Abusers claiming their victim has a history of making things up for attention or to get their way, tacitly implying you shouldn’t listen to them when they express fear or disclose their abusive situation to you
• Posters lacking a last name are inherently not to be trusted. The lack of a surname is there to keep you from looking the person up in other databases and finding out they’ve been listed as missing by their family/the police.
• Posters that put any character smears – mental illness, drug use, etc. – out about the victim are trying to make you predisposed to not communicating with or trusting the victim so you won’t believe anything they say. Treat this as a flashing neon red flag and call the police.

My mother would also like to note that taking a picture of the poster or tearing it down and turning it in to police can be very useful to them when they’re trying to build cases against abusers so if that’s at all possible for you, by all means do it.