The overall objective of the planned FAMILYPLATFORM is to elaborate a focussed research agenda that will address fundamental research issues and key policy questions for future research and family policies in Europe. Therefore, the platform will match three relevant perspectives: The perspective of the scientific community, the perspective of European families represented by important stakeholders such as family and children`s rights associations, and the perspective of policy makers and social partners. The FAMILYPLATFORM will focus on four areas: 1.Catching up with the current state of family research and elaboration of significant trends, differences between countries, gaps and methodological problems of existing research on families. Therefore a wide range of existential fields of family life and family policy will be taken into consideration. 2. A critical review of existing research from the perspective of a wide range of stakeholder representatives such as family associations, children`s right associations and policy makers and social partners, 3.Generating key policy questions for future European policy and research issues and tools focussed on “well being of families” as key concept in European policy, 4.Working out a research agenda with fundamental research issues, research areas and tasks of long-term studies, methodological tools based on step 1-3. The FAMILYPLATFORM offers a wide variety of forums: Conferences with debates to certain topics, workshops and future scenarios with defined tasks, focus groups for opinion formation, and discussion forums on the internet platform. In order to build a consensus, there will be special techniques of moderation. The FAMILYPLATFORM will involve a wide range of stakeholders from an early state of the project. The consortium covers well known European experts on applied research for families and family policies in Europe and one important confederation of family organisations in Europe.