For parents
Help gets organized without you being managed.
This is your life, your home, your pace. Family Observatory sorts out who is driving on Thursday so nobody has to ring round asking, and so you are not the one chasing your own family.
What it actually does
It sorts the arrangements, not you.
When there is an appointment, it works out who can take you and asks them. You are told what has been arranged. You are never quizzed, and nothing about you is tracked.
- Large buttons and plain words, easy to see and easy to tap.
- No accounts to manage, no menus, no swiping, no time pressure.
- Works with larger text and screen readers.
- Tapped the wrong one? It's easy to fix.
Your privacy comes first
There are no cameras and no microphones. Nothing follows where you go. The only thing your family sees is the answer you choose to send. You stay in control, and you can pause or stop anytime.
Good to know
Family Observatory is a friendly request, not a medical or emergency service. If you ever have an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number.
The things people actually worry about
Is this my family keeping tabs on me?
No, and the design is the answer rather than the promise. There are no cameras, no microphones and nothing in your home listening. Nobody is told where you are, how you slept, or whether you have eaten. What gets shared is what has been arranged, which is the same thing you would say on the phone.
Am I going to have to learn something?
No. You are told what has been arranged. That is the whole of it. There is no account to manage and nothing you have to check, and if you never touch it at all it still works, because the sorting out happens between the people doing the driving.
Does this mean I am losing my independence?
It is usually the opposite, and worth saying plainly. What costs people independence is not needing a lift. It is the outing that quietly stops being suggested because arranging it was too much trouble for everybody. When the arranging gets easier, more things happen, not fewer.
Can I say no?
Always, to any of it, and to the whole thing. Nothing is arranged over your objection, and a plan you did not agree to is not a plan. If you would rather your family simply rang you, that is a perfectly good arrangement and it costs nothing.
What does it actually look like on my end?
A short message arrives about one thing. It might say your daughter has asked whether you can be ready at two on Thursday, or that somebody is driving you to an appointment. There are two large buttons. One says yes, one says not this time. That is the whole thing.
There is nothing to log into and no password to keep. Nothing is timed, so there is no rush to answer. The text can be made larger, and it works with a screen reader.
What if I ignore it?
Nothing dramatic. After a while a gentle reminder arrives, and if it still goes unanswered the family members who set it up are told that the arrangement has not been confirmed. They are told it is unconfirmed, not that something is wrong with you, and that difference is deliberate.
You are allowed to not answer. Some days people are out, busy, or simply not in the mood to be organized, and a system that treats an unanswered message as an emergency would be an unpleasant thing to live with.
Will they be reading things about me?
There is nothing about you to read. What the family can see is the arrangements: what is happening, when, and who agreed to do it. There are no notes about how you seem, no health information, no cameras, and nothing that follows where you go.
The only thing that ever leaves your side is your own answer, in your own words: yes, not this time, or nothing at all.
How do I stop it?
Tell anybody in the family, or write to us directly, and it stops. You do not need a reason and you do not need to ask permission from whoever set it up. You can also pause it for a while and start again later.
If some parts suit you and others do not, that is worth saying too. Most people who dislike this at first dislike one specific thing, and it is usually easier to change than anybody expects.
Who is paying for this?
Whoever set it up, usually an adult child, and it is a monthly subscription rather than anything taken from you. Nobody is charged for being in a Care Circle, and you are never asked for payment details.