How can I find a family member I lost contact with in the war?
The search service of the Estonian Red Cross is the organisation dealing with reuniting family members that lost contact in the course of the war. Unfortunately, it is not possible for the Red Cross to start the searches in Ukraine while there are battles going on in the country, as in a situation like that, people are constantly moving around. The Red Cross can start their searches once the refugees have at least temporarily settled.
Information on when and where the applications for searching for close ones will be accepted will be published on the web page of the Estonian Red Cross, redcross.ee at first opportunity.
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the Red Cross helps to look for only the closest relatives, i.e. parents, children, siblings. The Red Cross is not searching for more distant relatives with whom there has been no contact for years.
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It is necessary to have very detailed personal data about the person being searched for: the exact date of birth and the last address where the person being searched lived before the loss of contact.
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The searcher also has to give her data and consent to the processing of the data.
If a child from Ukraine is lost or missing, how to search for him?
Large numbers of Ukrainian war refugees, including very many children, have reached Estonia. Many families have been separated from each other and lost contact. How can parents search for their children and children for their parents?
The organisation of searching for missing children in Europe Missing Children Europe has opened a pan-European web page missingchildreneurope.eu/ukraine. The web page contains the necessary references for both parents and children, as well as for people who notice a child that is alone.
Missing children can be reported to the general European helpline 116 000 that answers in Estonia as well.
Refugees staying in Estonia can call 24/7 to the hotline of SA Kadunud, +372 6616 776, where they are talked to in Russian or English. From there, the reports of children going missing or being looked for will also reach the European organisations.
The recommendations of SA Kadunud on what information a child should have with him that would help him to get back to his parents, should he get lost:
- the phone numbers of his parents;
- the phone numbers and names of at least two contact persons that the parent(s) have in Estonia (employer, accommodation provider etc.);
- the address of the place where the child is stayning, including the street name and house number, and a little printed map with the route to the new school or kindergarten marked down;
- the phone numbers 112 and 6616 776 and the Estonian mobile phone number of an employee of the Ukrainian Embassy, as she is probably the only person who is able to speak with the child in Ukrainian if the phones of the child's mother and father are not answering;
- the child's blood type. This information has to be written down on a paper that is in a compartment of the child's backpack on in the child's pocket, or, at the very least, written on the outer side of the child's arm near his elbow.
Last updated: 24.03.2022
