What to do when your helper suddenly disappears

Check on her safety before anything else

The first question is not "what does this mean for us" — it's whether she's alright. Look in her room for signs of what she took with her. Try her phone. Ask anyone in the household or nearby who might have seen her. A helper who has gone quiet is, first, a person you're responsible for, and most disappearances turn out to have an ordinary explanation once you can actually reach her.

Give it a little time, but not indefinitely

There's a real difference between "she said she'd be back late and hasn't shown up yet" and genuinely unreachable for a day or more with no word to anyone. Don't treat the first few hours as a crisis — plans change, phones die, buses get missed. But don't let days pass on the assumption it will sort itself out either. If you can't account for her by the next day, that's the point to stop waiting and start acting — including filing a police report if you haven't already; it's a normal, sensible step at this stage and doesn't commit you to anything.

Bring GMA in early, not as a last resort

Call us as soon as you're genuinely concerned, not after you've already tried to work it out alone. Our office is open 10am to 7pm, seven days a week — if she goes quiet late at night, the police report is the step that doesn't wait, and the rest keeps until we open. Once an absence looks real, there's paperwork that needs handling — including notifying Immigration once it's clear she has left without notice — and we'll tell you exactly what applies to your situation and take care of it with you, rather than you having to work out the process yourself. Early is also simply easier: the more time has passed, the fewer options everyone has.

Keep a simple record while it's fresh

Note when you last heard from her, what she said, and who else you've asked. It doesn't need to be formal — a few lines is enough. This is useful however things resolve, and much easier to put together now than to reconstruct from memory in two weeks.

Think about the household, not just the process

Someone still needs to do the school run, cook dinner, look after a parent. Work out a short-term stopgap — a relative, a part-time cleaner, rearranged schedules — before you're forced into one at short notice. It's also worth checking your helper insurance policy at this point — some plans include a benefit toward the cost of recruiting a replacement in a situation like this. If she was close to your children, they'll likely have questions too; a simple, calm explanation goes further than saying nothing.

If she doesn't come back

At some point a prolonged, unexplained absence has to be treated as the employment ending, not just paused. That's a harder moment, but it's also where you stop improvising: GMA works out exactly what's owed and handles ending things properly, and starts the search for a replacement in parallel so the gap is as short as it can be. Work out what's owed, or talk to us about next steps.