Siblings split between placements
You shared a bedroom for two years and then a van came. You remember a nickname, a scar, a cartoon you both watched — sometimes that is more than a case file holds.
For care leavers and separated families
Looking for a sibling, a mother, a father
If you grew up in foster care, moved between placements, or were separated from family before you had the words for it — you may only have fragments. Fragments are enough here. Post what you remember, and we look for the person who remembers the same room.
Free to post, always. Nobody sees your name until you both say yes.
Before you search
noknokk is a memory archive, not a records, tracing, DNA or emergency service. We hold no birth, adoption or care records, and a match is a suggestion based on similar memories — never proof of identity or of a family relationship. Members must be 16 or older, and searches for or about a child are refused. Anyone can switch on a permanent “do not contact me”, which we enforce in both directions.
If someone is missing or at risk, start here
- Police / emergency services
If someone is missing or at risk right now, call 000 (Australia) or your local emergency number.
- AFP National Missing Persons Coordination Centre
The official channel for reporting and searching for a missing person in Australia.
- Care-leaver records and support
State and territory record-access services can release care, adoption and placement records.
- Link-Up services
Family tracing and reunion support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by removal.
- Lifeline 13 11 14
Free 24/7 crisis support if a search is bringing up something heavy.
How your privacy works here
Read the full safety rulesNobody sees your name until you both say yes
Identity, photo and contact stay sealed on both sides until each of you accepts.
No DNA, no records, no people-search
We hold no birth, adoption or care files and buy no data. Only what people choose to write.
A permanent do-not-contact switch
Turn it on and you stop appearing to anyone, in both directions, for good.
No public profiles
There is nothing to browse about you — only the memory you chose to post.
Who this is for
The archive was built for half-remembered encounters. For separated families, those half-memories are often the only record left.
A birth parent you never met
A hospital, a city, a year, a first name someone once let slip. Post it as you know it; if they are looking too, the details line up from both sides.
The people in between
Foster carers, a residential worker, a school friend who knew your family before you did. They often hold the piece that connects the rest.
How a family search works here
01
Write what you actually remember
Not names and dates you're supposed to know — the wallpaper, the street's shape, the make of car, the year you think it was. Fragments match better than facts.
02
We look for the other half
Our matching compares your description of them against how other people describe themselves and their families: place, era, household, details.
03
Nobody is exposed
Neither side sees a name or a photo until you both accept. If a relative isn't ready to be found, they simply never appear to you — and you never appear to them.
Handled with care, not urgency
Family searches carry more weight than a memory of a bus route, so the same rules are enforced harder: no contact without mutual acceptance, no addresses or phone numbers in public posts, a verification question before any chat opens, and a permanent decline that is never re-suggested. We are not a records authority and we can't promise anyone will be found — we can promise nobody is exposed along the way.