Useful generic and critical literature about family support

Family support is a contested concept and sphere of social policy. The following UK and international literature published since 2000 provide wide-ranging conceptual, theoretical, ethical and critical discussions; and informative overviews of family support policy, services and practice. Central to policy and practice debates are critical considerations of the social and political constructions and contexts of notions of ‘family’ and ‘family support’. This section includes several social policy and sociological publications that examine these issues.

Arney, F. and Scott, D. (eds.) (2013) Working with Vulnerable Families: A Partnership Approach, 2nd edn, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

This Australian text examines critical issues in family support and family-centred practice. It provides examples of innovative approaches and services in relation to working with children and families around specific issues such as child neglect and parental substance misuse; and in relation to specific target groups, including fathers, refugee families and Aboriginal communities.

Boddy, J., Canali, C., Danielsen, I., Flett, M., Garbers, S., Ghate, D., Hauari, H., Milova, H., Statham, J., Smith, M. and Wigfall, S. (2009) International Perspectives on Parenting Support: Non-English Language Sources, London: Institute of Education, http://www.ioe.ac.uk/97863.html.

Provides an informative review of family and parenting support services in five European countries –; Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Daly, M., Bray, R., Bruckauf, Z., Byrne, J., Margaria, A., Pecnik, N. and Samms-Vaughan, M. (2015) Family and Parenting Support: Policy and Provision in a Global Context, Florence: UNICEF, http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/01%20family_support_layout_web.pdf.

Part 1 of this research compendium critically reviews international policy and service developments identifying several research gaps and developing an innovative analytical framework for national, comparative and international policy and practice research. Part 2 provides nine national case studies of recent developments in family support representing countries from several major regions of the world, including England and Sweden.

Davidson, G., Bunting, L. and Webb, M. (2012) Families Experiencing Multiple Adversities: A Review of the International Literature, Belfast: Barnardos.

An informative review of the prevalence of multiple, co-occurring problems and adversities among children, youth and families; and inter-disciplinary theory and research which concludes with a discussion of critical policy issues and points to the gaps in research.

Devaney, C., Canavan, J., Landy, F. and Gillen, A. (2013) What Works in Family Support? Galway: UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, http://www.tusla.ie/uploads/content/Tusla_What_Works_in_Family_Support.pdf.

This report was commissioned by the Child and Family Agency in Ireland. It provides a useful concise yet critical discussion and review of ‘evidence-based’ family support programmes, services and practices (including intensive home visiting and intensive family services) and sets out key principles for family support practice and the major conceptual and theoretical influences informing policy, programme and practice developments.

Dolan, P., Pinkerton, J. and Canavan, J. (eds.) (2006) Family Support as Reflective Practice, London: Jessica Kingsley.

A wide-ranging text that examines generic and critical issues in family support practice, and provides several accounts and reviews of family support services across Anglophone and European countries and in relation to various target groups and service domains, such as supporting disabled parents and children, culturally competent practice, schools-based support, youth services and child welfare.

Edwards, R., McCarthy, J. and Gillies, V. (2014) ‘The politics of concepts: family and its (putative) replacements’, British Journal of Sociology, 63, 4, 730–46.

Provides a review of sociological concepts and debates related to ‘family’ as well as personal life, intimacy and kinship. Calls for more critical sociological analysis of social, policy and professional meanings and perspectives on ‘the family’, and engagement in critical policy and practice debates.

Featherstone, B., White, S. and Morris, K. (2014) Re-Imagining Child Protection: Towards Humane Social Work with Families, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Critiques child welfare policies and practice in the contemporary social policy climate dominated by neo-liberalism, managerialism and social inequalities. Sets out the ethical, theoretical and empirical basis for an alternative compassionate and collaborative social welfare and social justice approach to child welfare, family support and family social work.

Featherstone, B. (2004) Family Life and Family Support: A Feminist Analysis, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

A critical analysis of social change, social policies and social services in relation to family life and family support in the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s attentive to gender inequality issues and the gendered nature of social relations, family life and family support.

Frost, N., Abbott, S. and Race, T. (2015) Family Support, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Sets out the social, political and historical context to recent UK debates and developments in family support; reviews conceptual, theoretical and research perspectives; and examines the role of intensive home visiting services, intensive family support, family intervention programmes and multi-agency holistic family support services.

Katz, I. and Pinkerton, J. (eds.) (2003) Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Internationally, Thinking Critically, Chichester: Wiley.

Considers critical issues in international research about family support services; includes national case studies of family support services across Anglophone, European and Asian policy and practice contexts.

Ribbens McCarthy, J., Hooper, C. A. and Gillies, V. (eds.) (2013) Family Troubles? Exploring Change and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People, Bristol: The Policy Press.

A wide-ranging inter-disciplinary family studies text with over twenty chapters on a diverse range of historical, social, political, professional and international topics. Central themes are deliberations of ‘normal family troubles’ and ‘troubling troubles’; and the value and challenges of inter-disciplinary research and theorising about family life, family relations and ‘family troubles’.

Statham, J. (2004) ‘Effective services to support children in special circumstances’, Child: Care, Health and Development, 30, 6, 589–98.

Sets out the findings of a major English research review and stakeholder consultation project about effective services to support: (1) young people at risk of offending; (2) teenage parents; (3) children whose parents have drug, alcohol or mental health problems; (4) children living with domestic violence; and (5) children who have been abused or neglected. Concludes that holistic, multi-agency approaches that address the needs of the ‘whole child and family’, and intensive, targeted support accessed and provided within a framework of universal provision, are key features of effective services.

Vincent, S. (ed.) (2015) Early Intervention: Supporting and Strengthening Families, Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.

Includes chapters about intensive and multi-agency family support services in Wales, Ireland and Australia. Provides accounts of innovative collaborative approaches to developing local services involving families, communities, researchers, practitioners and local government agencies.

Intensive family support: selective UK policy and practice literature

There are growing research, policy and practice literatures about UK approaches to, and developments in, intensive family support services and intensive family intervention programmes.

Focusing on debates and developments from the mid-1990s to 2010 and including literature about the English Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) under the Labour Government, significant reports, studies and reviews include:

Batty, E. and Flint, J. (2012) ‘Conceptualising the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of intensive family intervention projects’, Social Policy and Society, 11, 3, 345–58.

Boddy, J., Statham, J., Warwick, I., Hollingworth, K. and Spencer, G. (2012) Health Related Work in Family Intervention Projects, London: Institute of Education.

Dillane, J., Hill, M., Bannister, J. and Scott, S. (2001) Evaluation of the Dundee Families Project, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.

Gregg, D. (2010) Family Intervention Projects: A Classic Case of Policy-Based Evidence, London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Lloyd, C., Wollny, I., White, C., Gowland, S. and Purdon, S. (2011) Monitoring and Evaluation of Family Intervention Services and Projects between February 2007 and March 2011, London: Department for Education.

Morris, K., Hughes, N., Clarke, H., Tew, J., Mason, P., Galvani, S., Lewis, A. and Loveless, L. (2008) Think Family: A Literature Review of Whole Family Approaches, London: Cabinet Office/Social Exclusion Task Force.

Nixon, J., Parr, S., Sanderson, D., Hunter, C. and Whittle, S. (2008) The Longer-Term Outcomes Associated with Families Who Had Worked with Intensive Family Support Projects, London: Department of Communities and Local Government.

Nixon, J., Pawson, H. and Sosenko, P. (2010) ‘Rolling out anti-social behaviour families projects in England and Scotland: analysing the rhetoric and practice of policy transfer’, Social Policy and Administration, 44, 3, 305–25.

Parr, S. (2009) ‘Family Intervention Projects: a site of social work practice’, British Journal of Social Work, 39, 7, 1256–73.

Parr, S. (2011) ‘Family policy and the governance of anti-social behaviour in the UK: women's experiences of intensive family support’, Journal of Social Policy, 40, 4, 717–37.

Pawson, H., Davidson, E., Sosenko, F., Flint, J., Nixon, J., Casey, R. and Sanderson, D. (2009) Evaluation of Intensive Family Support Projects in Scotland, Edinburgh: Crown Copyright, http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/272803/0081442.pdf.

Several official reports, programme evaluations and critical reviews have been published about the English Troubled Families Programme (TFP) introduced in late 2011 and expanded in 2014. Significant TFP reports, national and local evaluations and studies, and critical policy and programme reviews include:

‘Approaches to families with complex needs’, themed section in Families, Relationships and Societies (2013), 12, 3, 457–75.

Includes five papers by leading government officials in the Troubled Families Programme and children's social work as well as critical social policy and social work researchers.

Bond-Taylor, S. (2015) ‘Dimensions of family empowerment in so-called “troubled” families’, Social Policy and Society, 14, 3, 371–84.

Crossley, S. (2015) The Troubled Families Programme: The Perfect Social Policy? Briefing 13, London: Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/troubled-families-programme-perfect-social-policy.

Davies, K. (ed.) (2014) Social Work with Troubled Families: A Critical Introduction, London: Jessica Kingsley.

Department for Communities and Local Government (2012) Working with Troubled Families: A Guide to the Evidence and Good Practice, London: DCLG.

Department for Communities and Local Government (2012) Listening to Troubled Families. A Report by Louise Casey CB, London: DCLG, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/2183663.pdf.

Department for Communities and Local Government (2014) National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme: Interim Report Family Monitoring Data, London: DCLG.

Levitas, R. (2014) ‘Troubled Families’ in a Spin, http://www.poverty.ac.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Troubled%20Families%20in%20a%20Spin.pdf.

Additional UK studies and publications about intensive family support services include:

Forrester, D., Holland, S., Williams, A. and Copello, A. (2012) An Evaluation of the Option 2 Intensive Family Preservation Service, Report for Alcohol Research UK, Bedford: Tilda Goldburg Centre.

Ferguson, H. and Gates, P. (2015) ‘Early intervention and holistic, relationship-based practice with fathers: evidence from the work of the Family Nurse Partnership’, Child and Family Social Work, 20, 1, 96–105.

Long, T., Murphy, M., Fallon, D., Livesley, J., Devitt, P., McLoughlin, M. and Cavanagh, A. (2012) Four Year Longitudinal Evaluation of the Action for Children UK Neglect Project, Salford: University of Salford, https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/media/3227/evaluation_uk_neglect_project_2012.pdf.

National Audit Office (2013) Programmes to Help Families Facing Multiple Challenges, HC 878, London: The Stationery Office.

MacLeod, M. (2011) Building Bridges: An Independent Evaluation of a Family Support Service. London: Family Action, http://www.family-action.org.uk/section.aspx?id=15308.

Robling, M., Bekkers, M., Bell, K., Butler, C. C., Cannings-John, R., Channon, S., Corbacho Martin, B., Gregory, J. W., Hood, K., Kemp, A., Kenkre, J., Montgomery, A. A., Moody, G., Owen-Jones, E., Pickett, K., Richardson, G., Roberts, Z. E. S., Ronaldson, S. and Sanders, J. (2015) ‘Effectiveness of a nurse-led intensive home-visitation programme for first-time teenage mothers (Building Blocks): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial’, The Lancet, 14 October, doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00392-X.

Thom, G., Delahunty, L., Harvey, P. and Ardill, J. (2014) Evaluation of the Integrated Family Support Service Final Year 3 Report, Cardiff: Welsh Government Social Research.

Intensive family support: selective international policy and practice literature

Some useful international reviews, reports, articles and studies, including those related to Australia, the US and Western European countries, are:

Al, C., Stams, G., Bek, M., Damen, E., Asscher, J. and van der Lann, P. (2012) ‘A meta-analysis of Intensive Family Preservation Services: placement prevention and improvement in family functioning’, Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 8, 1472–79.

Boddy, J., Statham, J., McQuail, S., Petrie, P. and Owen, C. (2009) Working at the ‘Edges’ of Care? – European Models of Support for Young People and Families, London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Bromfield, L., Sutherland, K. and Parker, R. (2012) Families with Multiple and Complex Needs: Best Interests Case Practice Model Specialist Practice Resource, Melbourne: Victorian Department of Human Services.

Dagenais, C., Begin, J., Bouchard, C. and Fortin, D. (2004) ‘Impact of intensive family support programs: a synthesis of evaluation studies’, Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 3, 249–63.

Darlington, Y., Healy, K. and Feeney, J. A. (2009) ‘Approaches to assessment and intervention across four child and family welfare services’, Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 3, 356–64.

Fox, S., Southwell, A., Stafford, N., Goodhue, R., Jackson, D. and Smith, C. (2015) Better Systems, Better Chances: A Review of Research and Practice for Prevention and Early Intervention, Canberra: Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY).

Katz, I., Spooner, C. and Valentine, K. (2006) What Interventions Are Effective in Improving Outcomes for Children of Families with Multiple and Complex Problems?, Perth: Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY).

Long, M. and Fredico, M. (2014) ‘What parents say about their experiences of Family Preservation Programs’, Children Australia, 39, 2, 74–80.

McDonald, M., Moore, T. G. and Goldfeld, S. (2012) Sustained Home Visiting for Vulnerable Families and Children: A Literature Review of Effective Programs, Victoria: Centre for Community Child Health.

Molinuero, D. (2013) Parenting Support in Europe, Dublin: Eurofound.

Nelson, K., Walters, B., Schwietzer, D., Blythe, B. and Pecora, P. (2009) A Ten-Year Review of Family Preservation Research: Building the Evidence Base, Washington: Casey Family Programmes.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2015) Integrating Social Services for Vulnerable Groups: Bridging Sectors for Better Service Delivery, Paris: OECD.

Web sources