How support listings are checked

The Support & Assistance Finder currently lists 102 public resources, with 2 more held internally pending verification or removed. This page explains exactly what our labels mean, how listings get in, and how they stay accurate.

What our status labels mean

We never label a resource “trusted,” “best,” “doctor approved,” or “safe” — those words promise more than a directory can honestly know. Instead:

Verified active

A person checked the organization’s own public pages and confirmed the link works, the organization is who the listing says it is, and the specific program appears to be currently offered. Not a medical endorsement.

Organization confirmed

The link works and the resource is described on the organization’s own website, but we have not individually re-confirmed every program detail on this check.

Link confirmed

The link works and the page matches the listing, but organization identity or program status has not been separately confirmed. A working URL alone never earns “verified active.”

Active — no affiliation confirmed

The community appears active, but it is not run by an established organization — it is peer led, and we could not confirm any organizational affiliation. Extra care applies; read how to evaluate a group.

Listings that are pending, unverifiable, inactive, broken, or held for safety, privacy, or commercial review are not shown publicly at all. The system fails closed: when in doubt, we don’t publish.

The six verification stages

1. Discovery. Name, URL, type, audience, geography, and description are collected from the organization’s own public pages.
2. Identity. We confirm the resource exists, the URL matches it, and affiliations are represented correctly.
3. Activity. Where publicly visible: the program is currently offered, joining or applying is possible, and contact methods work.
4. Safety & commercial review. Publicly visible descriptions and policies are reviewed for cure claims, pressure to stop treatment, supplement selling, privacy risks, and undisclosed commercial interests. Serious concerns hold or remove a listing.
5. Eligibility. Location, cost, requirements, and application processes are recorded only as the organization states them.
6. Publication gate. A listing goes public only when identity is confirmed, the link works, sources are recorded, required fields validate, and no unresolved safety concern exists.

Link monitoring & review schedule

Every listed URL is re-checked automatically for broken links, redirects, domain changes, and access problems. A successful page load is treated only as “the link works” — never as proof the service still operates. Each listing also carries a scheduled human re-review: roughly every 60 days for financial-assistance and crisis resources, 75–90 days for online communities and Facebook groups, 90 days for transportation and lodging, and up to 180 days for stable national programs. The “last checked” date on a listing changes only when a check actually happened.

Facebook groups: special rules

• We record only publicly visible metadata: group name, privacy setting, public description, and whether rules are public.
• We never collect member names, posts, comments, or anything behind a login, and we never join groups to inspect them.
• Private groups usually cannot be verified — which is why few appear here. We would rather list too few groups than vouch for what we cannot see.
• Member counts are never used as a quality signal or ranking factor.

What holds or removes a listing

Guaranteed-cure claims, advice to stop treatment, required purchases to receive peer support, administrator-owned commercial clinics, heavy undisclosed affiliate promotion, requests for medical records, harassment, or privacy violations. We also hold listings when there simply isn’t enough public information to review. We do not publish a “safety score” — a number would imply precision that public information cannot support.

Corrections and reports

Every listing has a report link. Reports are reviewed, material corrections are noted on the listing itself, and reporter contact details are never published. You can also suggest a new resource — suggestions are never published automatically; each enters the verification pipeline above.

Who runs this

The finder is published by Cancer Explained (National Cancer Information Foundation) and maintained with AI assistance under the site’s editorial process. It is free, requires no account, collects no diagnosis or health profile, and lists no paid placements. Cancer Explained is not a medical provider; nothing here is medical advice, triage, or an emergency service.