Advocacy Australia provides support services to relieve the suffering of victims of serious crimes and their families and gives them a voice to seek justice for their loved ones.
When individuals, children and families become victims of horrific crimes such as murder, suspicious disappearance or abduction; their suffering, distress and helplessness is unimaginable. And although there are support groups and councilors capable of offering emotional support to help victims come to terms with what has happened; many families feel the need to have a voice in their quest for justice. This was the case for William’s loved ones.
Determined to increase awareness of William’s plight to support the police investigation to find William and bring him home, on 26 June 2015 they launched their Where’s William? Campaign at NSW Police headquarters. Through this fully integrated communications campaign featuring media, social media, advertising, billboards, posters, flyers, a special 3-part 60 Minutes (Australia) story and a dedicated Sunday Telegraph A3 lift-out poster to ensure their message reached as many Australian’s as possible; they persistently called on the person who knew something to come forward.
The campaign generated a ‘phenomenal response’ with NSW Police and Crime Stoppers receiving an unprecedented number of reports. They also lobbied extensively to significantly double police resources twice; and secured the largest reward ($1Million) to be offered in NSW history (at that time) to set a precedent that has since helped solve many other crimes for the families of victims of serious crimes.
While their quest for justice and the search for William persists, William’s website continues to receive a high volume of traffic while his Facebook page with more than 111,000 followers ensures William’s plight and the need to find him remains in the hearts and minds of all Australians.
For more information visit: www.whereswilliam.org or www.facebook.com/whereswilliam
Advocacy Australia is dedicated to providing this same high level of communication support directly to other victims of serious crimes and their loved ones.
