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Word or expression

I miss a word. It is somewhere deep in my mind and I cannot take it out.
I need a brainstorming to help me to take it out and remember it.
To increase the confusion, I am not so sure if I will be able to define it properly.
Here it is:
-      How do you name/call a person/individual who represents a group, having the same characteristics?
-      When you look at that individual, you see trough/in that person all the others. Like a model, a special type. Maybe is a word related with “type”, maybe sounds as genotype, maybe in Latin.
-      Stereotype is too banal, ordinary and has not a nice connotation.
-      Archetype sounds better, but for me seems that involves something ancient or something initial that was first time.
-      I need the word to express a common set of problems and values. I would like to apply this word or expression to describe a family in needs, which in fact is one family out of thousands in the same situations with the same needs and problems and values. The description would be used to designate all the other families using the name of that representative family.
-      What is that word or expression?
Any other suggestion is welcome.
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Trenton Knew

demographic?
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☠ MASQ ☠

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I would second demographic:
a particular sector of a population.
Stereotype?
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typical?
Ambassador?
Exemplar.    Poster Child.
.
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demographic is not good.
Up to now I bounce between  stereotype and archetype, but as I already described in my main question, it sounds that I miss another one. The problems with these words are:
"-     Stereotype is too banal, ordinary and has not a nice connotation.
-      Archetype sounds better, but for me seems that involves something ancient or something initial that was first time."


I would like to apply this word or expression to describe a family in needs from our days, a common family which became reference due to media for example, which in fact is one family out of thousands in the same situations with the same needs and problems and values.

How would you do it with more than 1 word  (only if is needed) ?
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good points
for me prototype connects automatically my brain to technical things, so I would not use it for family, at least not now.
I will decide between Archetype and Paradigm, not sure yet, but seems the best options so far.
I would like to say, eventually as title for a website page/article:
„X family became willy-nilly de facto archetype.“
How does it sound when paradigm is used instead of archetype?
For a family of organisms, Holotype.
We speak about a family of human beings, seen as social entity, us.
Is not about groups of studies in medicine or archaeology.
A human family might be founded by a patriarch or matriarch.
It is about a family in nowadays which went through a lot of trials. They became very public. In few months more info was revealed and everyone interested on the subject found that many more families go through the same difficulties.

Now, that family, due to different circumstances, just happened to have  a better public support, better publicity and became a “missing word or expression” for the rest of the families.

I guess “model” or “quintessence” may be somehow used among the other proposed words above. Or "flag" or "banner", but is not enough.
The word must  express the troubles/trials common for all other families, because the name of that family is now on the lips of everyone. That name became very known, but in fact it portrays all the other families.
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A "poster child" can exemplify or epitomize a cause.
Emblematic might suggest a well known example, whereas archetypical suggests a defining example.
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"Now, that family, due to different circumstances, just happened to have  a better public support, better publicity and became a “missing word or expression” for the rest of the families."

If as a result of this familiy's publicity, other families in the same situation benefited positively then they are "flag bearers" for their situation attracting public attention to the situation of the others because of their public status.
Thank you for your thoughts and your wife's thoughts.
kinship is not exactly, but kindred spirits I like how it sounds.
Nevertheless, the family that I am talking about has no relations with the other families. The other families are in different cities or different countries, abused by the same system, a common one in the west countries: CPS. It is unbelievable for any normal human mind. You do not want to hear it. And is not only in USA, it is also in Europe in many countries and is not conspiracy theory.
FYI, at European Court in 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di-VuxAVBOg 
So, in the end I think I will go for "Archetypal" family.

Thank you.