How to Search for Someone on CaringBridge

CaringBridge serves as an online community where you can connect with people you know who have serious health conditions, provide donations and support them during a challenging time. Before you can leave messages, read journal entries or donate money to someone, you need to find the person's CaringBridge webpage. While the easiest way to find someone on the site is to ask for a direct link or invitation, you can use the search option on the CaringBridge Website and mobile apps to search by the person's name or webpage name.

Finding someone on CaringBridge provides a way to keep up to date with the person's health journey through updates from the person and family members. CaringBridge advertises that each webpage features a journal with a place to leave supportive comments, a photo album and an option to make a donation in the name of the member. You can also participate in any fundraisers the person starts, send well wishes and find ways to help your contact get support.

Begin your search for a person on the CaringBridge.org Website homepage, where you'll find a Search option on the website's navigation menu. Clicking it brings up a search field where you can type either the person's name or the title of their CaringBridge page. Then, click the magnifying glass to see the results page.

If the person you seek has a common name, you may need to take advantage of the advanced search option on the right side of the results page. This allows you to narrow down the results to a date range when the webpage was likely created, such as between February 2018 and April 2018. At the same time, you can change the first and last names if necessary.

If you don't know the webpage's estimated creation time and see a lot of vague results, try scrolling through the results while looking for the person's profile picture. Click the Visit Site button beside a search result to view the user's page and information, which can help you determine if that is the person you're looking for. You may get a prompt to log in depending on the person's privacy settings.

The CaringBridge website shows that it also offers Android and iOS apps that have search functionality. Unlike with the CaringBridge website though, you first need to log in to the mobile app to have access to any features. You also won't have the advanced search option when searching for someone.

After you log in, tap the Search tab where you can type the person's name or page name and tap Search to see the results. Tapping a person's name in the results list takes you directly to the CaringBridge webpage.

If you can't find someone on CaringBridge, the problem might be the webpage owner's privacy settings. CaringBridge states that it gives individuals control over whether they want a page to show up in searches both on the website and in general search engines. If the person's site is not searchable, you can either ask the person or someone who knows them to provide you with a link or invitation to the page. You may also find the link through the social media page of the person or a family member.

Even if the site is searchable, you may still have trouble finding the person's webpage if it was set up using an alternate name. If you don't want to ask anybody for the link to the page and can't find a link on social media, CaringBridge's website suggests you refine your search with alternate spellings or nicknames the person might use.

If you can find someone on CaringBridge but not view the person's content, log in with your own CaringBridge account. Some webpage owners restrict access to members only. If the page is private and only allows specific visitors, ask the webpage owner to add you to the approved visitors list.