Frequently asked questions about the meetafamily service

Q. How do we meet another family? How do I make new friends?

A. Our website was conceived to make it easier to meet new families and make new friends, wherever you live. You can now make contact with a family just down the road, or in another part of the country. Our system is so simple that families can even contact a family in a different country, as easily as if they were in the same town. A single parent can use us to contact other single parents. A new mum can contact other new mums. If your children have left home, you have the opportunity to contact others who might like to meet up just for friendship, or to share your interests. Perhaps your child would like to become friends with other children near your new home? Would your child like a pen friend in a distant town – or perhaps in another country?

Q. Is it free to have a “Family Special Page” for other families to see?

A. Yes. We only make a small charge when you wish us to contact another family on your behalf.

Q. Is there an annual membership fee?

A. No. You can have a Family Special Page on our website almost indefinitely and at no cost. If you do not contact or respond to another family in a twelve months period, we may ask if you still wish to retain your Family Special Page - but there will be no charge.

Q. How do we find a family with the same hobbies and interests as us?

A. Click the "Search for towns by interests" link. When the new page opens, choose your country and then select a hobby or leisure interest from the alphabetical list, then click "Submit". You will see which towns have a family sharing your interests. The next step is to go to that town by clicking on the "Find a family by choosing a town" link.

Q. How do we register with meetafamily, so that we can see the Family Special Pages that other families have put up?

A. The registration process is very simple. Just click on a "Join Meetafamily" link or button and then click the "Register" link, which first asks you to choose your country and your home town or village from our database. Then it takes you to the registration page. When you click the "Submit" button, we send you an email confirming your registration details eg. username, password, etc. There is a link on the email that you click to take you back to a "Sign In" page on our website, which allows us to verify your email address. After that you can see all Family Special Pages on meetafamily. An alternative way to register with meetafamily, is to first see if there are any links to Family Special Pages in your local town, village or elsewhere. When you click on a family's link, we will ask you to Sign In, but you can follow the "New visitors register first" link on the Sign In form if you haven't yet registered.

Q. How do we obtain our own Family Special Page?

A.To have your own Family Special Page on our website, you register first and let us verify your email address, as with the answer to the last question. You then just click on a "Join Meetafamily" link or button and sign in, which will take you to a page with your registration details. When you click on the "Continue" button, it takes you to a page where you can add your own leisure interests and those of your children. You can add other details and even a personal message if you like. When you click the "Submit" button, you have become a full member of meetafamily, with your own "Family Special Page" and a unique ID number. As a full member you can return later and add up to two pictures. One image could optionally be a family group and the other possibly connected with one of your interests, or a beauty spot not far away from where you live, a pet - or anything you like!

Q. How do I access my member's Admin page, so I can change my email address or password, update our family interests, etc.

A. To access your member's Admin, just enter your ID number into the search box on the right-hand side of the Home page and click "Go". When you have signed in, you'll be looking at your own Family Special Page. Just click the link in the Navigation menu on the left-hand side of the page, which says "Member's Admin".

Q. I cannot see my “Member’s admin” link, after I sign in. Why is this?

A. You must have cookies enabled on your computer for our system to work fully, even though a cookie would only be used for the Message Board, when this is added in due course (in case you wish to be logged in to the Message Board automatically).

Q. In how many different towns or villages can we have the link to our Family Special Page, to give us the best chance of our link being seen by another family?

A. You can have your link in up to eight places, including your home town or village. The seven other places are chosen from a list of all places within a radius of 20km from your home. We provide the list so you can just tick the towns or villages where you would like your link to be seen. If you live in a large city, you can give the name of that city as your home town, but then give seven other places where your link should be seen. The list would include all places within 20km of the centre of the city, so you could choose some of those inner areas, as well as some places outside the city, if available within our distance limit. Alternatively if you live nearer the outskirts of a city, you could give this place as the centre of your circle instead (ie. you can name any area within a large city as your home town/village if you wish, so long as it is named on our list).

Q. What happens if our home town or village is not in your database?

A. When you click "Find a family by choosing a town" in the Navigation menu, it asks for your country, then takes you to a page where you can submit your town or village to see if there are any links there to other families. On that same town submit page, is also a form you can use to ask for a town or village to be added to the database. It is unlikely that your town or village is not included in our database, but we will certainly respond to any such requests as quickly as we can. A hamlet of only a few houses might not be included, but we may still be able to add it if requested.