latest news
3000 members
07 Feb 2007
MakingContact.org now has over 3000 members signed up to 700 conditions and 141 locations.
Since launch in July 2004 the rate of growth has been almost steady at 4% per month. Almost 900 conversations have been made between families, parents, carers and disabled people.
Many people have contacted us to say how useful the service is and we are proud of it. But it would have been nothing without the members so a big thank you for making this site what it is.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the site , please let us know.
Farsi added to MakingContact.org
02 Nov 2006
Today Contact a Family are proud to add Farsi to the list of languages supported by MakingContact.org. This brings us up to five langauges (Arabic, English, Farsi, Simplified Chinese and Somali) in which you can use this site.
Go to our languages page to start using it in one of these languages.
Major MakingContact.org update with language support
18 Oct 2006
Today Contact a Family are proud to release a major update to MakingContact.org with support for languages other than English.
As well as a brand new look and several new features, you can now use this site in three other languages : Arabic, Somali and Simplified Chinese, with Farsi to follow soon! Go to our languages page to start using it in one of these languages.
“MakingContact.org is a great way for families new to the UK to link up with others, especially when there are no other sources of support locally,” said Contact a Family Director of External Affairs, Jill Harrison. “And now that families can correspond in their own language, that makes MakingContact.org all the more useful.”
Contact a Family would like to thank the Home Office for their funding support enabling us to provide this updated service.
The list of new features now available is:
- Three new languages: Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Somali
- Ability to search for people by location or by other attributes (i.e. find all Fathers with daughters aged below 5). Check out our new advanced search page
- Faster and more powerful searching routines
- Ability to narrow any search (with over 25 results) by a number of filters
We hope you enjoy the new MakingContact.org. Please let us know if you have any questions, comments or feedback.
Awards for this site
Contact a Family's two websites http://www.cafamily.org.uk and MakingContact.org were awarded "Best Use of New Media" at the UK Charity Awards 2006 on 12th September 2006. The prestigious awards dinner was attended by HRH The Earl of Wessex, the welcome speech was by Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, and the compere was BBC presenter Jeremy Vine. The judges singled out the high quality, accessibility and effective service provision of the two sites.
Previously, Contact a Family was awarded the 2004 best Confidential E-mail service award by the Telephone Helpline Association for MakingContact.org. The award was given because our service "promotes a new and exciting method to access information or support but also protects users' confidentiality"
Making Contact.org was also a shortlisted finalist for both the Community Care Awards and the The Guardian Public Services Awards (Technology), both in 2004.
