Finding Jack, my Father

Date: 16th September 2013
Detective Services: Skip Tracing & Missing Persons

Brief:
A 39 year old man came to Detective Services looking for assistance in finding his birth father. Arthur had believed another man to be his father, but dramatically on his mother's deathbed 'June' revealed his true fathers identity. Jack Williams from Ballarat was only a name and a place with no more information before Arthur's mother passed, and with the only father he had known his entire life having passed 10 years before there were no other relatives to obtain vital clues from.

Detective Services Solution:
With very little detail to start the case, Detective Services took on the case with single minded focus to build the story of June and trace Jack Williams. Arthur had but one piece of evidence to work from and that was his Birth Certificate. It started with the birth place on Arthur's certificate stating his place of birth was Ballarat, despite the fact he had never lived there and spent his entire life in Geelong.

The Australian Electoral Role had dozens of Jack Williams in the age range residing in Victoria. Delving deeper into the case the top three candidates warranted further investigation. The search eliminated two of the candidates as one was serving in the Australian Army overseas in the time window of Arthur's case, the other was yet to emigrate from England to Australia and we eliminated the possibility of June having travelled to England. With further personal information confirmed Detective Services were able to provide not only Jack Williams' last known address in Bendigo, but also a family tree and contact information for Arthur to make contact.

Results:
As an only child for 39 years, Arthur now finds himself with 2 half siblings and an extended family who have welcomed him into their lives. Arthur's children now have, cousins and an Uncle & Aunty. Arthur now knows more about his mother and has come to peace with much of his childhood which he could not quite piece together. A bittersweet story as June gave the vital information too late, with Jack passing just 3 months before Arthur's mother had given him the vital information.

Benefits:
Arthur's advice is, "…if you're sitting on the fence, wondering whether to act or not, worried about what you might find, hesitating whether it might upset family or open old wounds, don’t hesitate, take action as soon as you can, it's worth the result…Life's short, do it before it's too late…". Like Arthur, clients always tell us that the time they now have, reunited with loved ones is so very precious and if only they had the courage sooner. So if you know someone who has a relative that is missing or are thinking of finding family they've never met, then give them our number, 1300 00 iSPY and tell them to get in contact with Mark Grover so he so we can help investigate the facts and discover the truth.