looking for my natural father

[daniboy]

hi, my name is daniel and im 14, i am trying to find my natural father. His name is paul darren howard born 15 feb 68 in sunderland. he married my mum petra claire hasking in devizes wiltshire on 12 nov 87. he then joined the royal engineers training in camberley surrey. last contact with him was in 92 when he was touring n. ireland. dont know where to start really, tried friends and Genes Reunited. can anyone help please?
thanks
daniel

[trystan]

Hello Daniel,

A big "hello" from us here at RootsChat.   

My name is Trystan, and I'm one of the people looking after RootsChat.

There are lots of very helpful people on here, so I hope that they will be able to give you some general advice.

We also need to make sure that we don't break any laws in giving out information about living people. It's a strange and daft law in a way, but it's there to protect the privacy of people. Also there might be a good reason why he doesn't want to be contacted right away or something (perhaps he's on a classified operation or something)

One site that I use for finding people's telephone numbers and things is www.192.com . Sometimes a good way to find people is in a round-about-way - thinking of hobbies, friends, relatives that he might have.

Bye for now,
Trystan
RootsChat Admin
NOTICE TO OTHERS REPLYING: PLEASE DO NOT REVEAL PERSONAL DETAILS AS A REPLY - PLEASE SEND PERSONAL DETAILS AS PERSONAL MESSAGES TO DANIEL

[trystan]

Another thing you could try too is the Salvation Army Family Tracer

See this link:
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/en/Departments/FamilyTracing/Home.htm

[newbie]

Hello Daniel,
I'm not sure if I can help but I recall when I was applying for a birth certificate from the ONS, (Office of National Statistics)
they offered a "tracing" service they for a fee, will try and trace your relative, all the details are on the site but they do not guarantee that the person will contact you, as I understand it they let the person know you are looking for them and want to get in touch then it is up to them. It may be worth a try. Here is the web address
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/home.asp.
 As an alternative have you tried writing to the Families and Welfare Officer of his Regiment, they may also be able to help.
Good luck
Newbie

[Kazza]

Hi,

Newbie,  the GRO service you are referring to - Traceline,  is only available to those aged 18 or over.  So no good in this case I am afraid.

Writing to the regiment is a very good idea though.

Kazza.

[MrsLizzy]

Hi Daniel

I agree that writing to the Regiment could be a good idea.  Also you could write to the MOD and ask them to forward a letter from you to him.   If your Mum is OK with you looking for your dad, then if all else fails, ask her to help.  If she is still married to your dad then she is his legal next of kin and she is the one who can get the authorities to help trace him.

Good luck Daniel and never give up.

regards

Mrs Lizzy