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Family Support Services (family + support_services)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences83%

Selected Abstracts

Understanding family support provision within the context of prevention: a critical analysis of a local voluntary sector project

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2007
Kepa Artaraz
ABSTRACT This paper presents a model of service process for a family support service at the preventative level as part of a wider debate about child welfare systems in the UK and beyond. The paper places the debate about the shape of preventative family support services within the policy context and uses it to critique various models of service provision, principally the ,child rescue' paradigm. From this, the paper explores the characteristics that constitute a complex, yet preventative, family support service. This model is then illustrated using empirical evidence collected from the evaluation of a voluntary and community sector project in the North West of England that describes the service process and some of its characteristics. The paper argues that the model of family support presented has implications for the type of service process that can effectively put the theory into practice. Finally, questions for further research are defined in relation to the implications that this model poses for professional,user relationships and for the professional forms that can deliver preventative family support. [source]

Families on the brink: the effectiveness of family support services

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2004
June Statham
ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a study of the costs and effectiveness of family support services offered to 40 families with a high level of need, in two neighbouring local authorities in North Wales. It describes the level and type of services offered by different agencies in each of the authorities, estimates the costs of these services, and assesses outcomes for the families receiving them after three months. Information is also provided about families' experience of the support they received, and the kind of help they would have liked. Parents' well-being and family functioning were found to improve over the intervention period in both authorities, although only to a limited extent. Improvements were greater among those who were living with partners, and less among families identified by social workers as having financial difficulties or problems with drug or alcohol abuse. Respondents who rated their problems as very severe showed less improvement. The pattern of service provision and the costs involved turned out to be similar in both authorities, so it was not possible to reach conclusions about the relationship between services and outcomes. However, a number of themes emerging from the data are discussed, including the role of day care services in supporting families with young children, the impact of poverty and deprivation on parents' ability to provide good care for their children, and the importance of an interagency response to children's and parents' needs. The article also includes a discussion of problems encountered in undertaking comparative outcomes-based research and cost-effectiveness analyses in the social welfare field. [source]

The extent and nature of family alcohol and drug use: findings from the belfast youth development study

CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2008
Andrew Percy
Abstract Using data from an ongoing longitudinal study of adolescent drug use, this study examines the proportion of teenagers living with parents who are problem alcohol or drug users. Around two per cent of parents report high levels of problem drinking and one per cent report problem drug use. If a broader definition of hazardous drinking is used, the proportion of teenagers exposed increases to over 15 per cent. When substance use is examined at a family level (taking account of alcohol and drug use amongst dependent children in addition to that of parents), the proportion of families experiencing some form of substance use is considerable. These findings add further support to the call for increased recognition of the needs of dependent children within adult treatment services when working with parents. Likewise, the reduction of harm to children as a result of parental substance use should be an increasingly important priority for family support services. This is likely to be achieved through the closer integration of addiction and family services. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

School,Based Early Intervention and Later Child Maltreatment in the Chicago Longitudinal Study

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2003
Arthur J. Reynolds
Investigated were the effects of participation in the Title I Child,Parent Centers (CPC) on substantiated reports of child maltreatment for 1,408 children (93% of whom are African American) in the Chicago Longitudinal Study. The CPCs provide child education and family support services in high,poverty areas. After adjusting for preprogram maltreatment and background factors, 913 preschool participants had significantly lower rates of court petitions of maltreatment by age 17 than 495 children of the same age who participated in alternative kindergarten interventions (5.0% vs. 10.5%, a 52% reduction). Participation for 4 to 6 years was significantly associated with lower rates of maltreatment (3.6% vs. 6.9%, a 33% reduction). Findings based on child protective service records (as well as combined protective service and court records) were similar. Preschool length, family risk, and school poverty were associated with lower rates of maltreatment. Parental involvement in school and school mobility were significant mediators of intervention effects. [source]

Home-start and the delivery of family support

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 5 2000
Nick Frost
The publication of Child Protection: Messages from Research (Department of Health, 1995) and of the ,Supporting Families' Green Paper (Home Office, 1998) have both highlighted the importance of developing family support services, in keeping with the word and the spirit of the Children Act, 1989. This article presents some of the findings of a three year study of a voluntary organisation, Home-Start, which offers support to mothers with children under five through volunteer home visiting. The article makes connections between the activities of Home-Start and the wider debate about family support in the United Kingdom. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]