my %families = (
    flintstones => {
        father    => "fred",
        mother    => "willma",
        kid       => "bambam",
    },
    simpsons => {
        father    => "homer",
        mother    => "marge",
        kid       => "bart",
    },
);

print getfamily(\%families,'bart','kid');

sub getfamily {
	my ($families,$member,$type) = @_;
	foreach my $family ( keys %{ $families } ) {		
		while ( my ($status,$name) = each %{ $families{$family} } ) {
			if ( $status eq $type && $member eq $name ) {
				return $family;
			}
		}
	}
	
	return undef;
}