The Think Family report - published by the Social Exclusion Task Force in the Cabinet Office - hails the Springboard scheme in Blackpool as a good example of those helping ensure adult services support whole families not just individuals.
Springboard brings together a wide range of agencies including police, housing, Primary Care Trust and social services working as one team to help the resort's most excluded families. The Think Family report cites one Blackpool family of parents and eight children with a range of problems from drug use and domestic violence to teenage pregnancy, and tells how Springboard's team gave practical help and advice to change family members' negative behaviours, protect those subject to the violence, get the children back into mainstream education and prevent the family being evicted and split up. (See Notes To Editors for details and contacts.)
The report also announces a nationwide £16m programme of local pilot schemes, to be led by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Ed Miliband, Cabinet Minister responsible for social exclusion, said: "The primary responsibility for a family's success or failure will always lie with parents, but government can make a significant difference to the chances of success. There should be no wrong door to help for families, so that whenever vulnerable parents turn to local services they receive support that recognises the needs of the whole family.
"If we're going to break the cycle of inter-generational exclusion, we must empower local services to always 'think family' and enable families to help themselves."
A 'think family' approach encourages local services to adopt the following basic principles:
* No wrong door - contact with any service offers an open door into a system of joined-up support, eg a probation officer or housing officer identifies the adult language difficulties of a client and refers them to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training;
* Look at the whole family - services working with both adults and children take into account family circumstances and responsibilities, eg an alcohol treatment service combines treatment with parenting classes while supervised childcare is provided for the children;
* Provide support tailored to need - tailored and family-centred packages of support are offered to all families at risk, eg a Family Intervention Project works with a family to agree a package of support best suited to their situation;
* Build on family strengths - practitioners work in partnerships with families recognising and promoting resilience and helping then to build their capabilities, eg family group conferencing is used to empower a family to negotiate their own solution to a problem.
In supporting and enabling local services to put these principles into action, the report:
* commits a total of £16m to establish a series of Family Pathfinders to test and develop the 'think family' model and generate and share evidence of what works on the ground;
* embeds early intervention and prevention within the existing system of support and extends tailored family services to reach a wider range of vulnerable families, in part through continued investment in existing projects shown to work including Family Nurse Partnerships and Family Intervention Projects;
* extends the logic of co-operation behind Every Child Matters to adults services so that all services share responsibility for family outcomes, encouraging and empowering frontline staff to innovate and cooperate in response to whole family situations.
Beverley Hughes, Children Young People and Families' Minister, said: "The Department for Children, Schools and Families has committed £13m for family pathfinder projects to deliver effective help to families where complex problems can lead to poor and lasting outcomes across generations. By working with both adults' and children's services, problems can be dealt with before they become entrenched, leading to better lives now and in the future.
"In addition, over the next three years a further £3m will be made available to help up to six family pathfinders extend their work to help children burdened by caring responsibilities. All children deserve to enjoy their childhood to the fullest and those children who take on the role of the carer in a family often miss out. Building more effective preventative support around the family will help ensure that young people in families affected by illness, disability or substance misuse do not fall into burdensome caring roles."
The report was launched at an event bringing Ministers together with practitioners and service users involved in projects working with families with complex problems, who will describe how a 'think family' approach is already proving a profound success.
Clare Tickell, Chief Executive of NCH, a leading children's charity that runs 20 family intervention projects across the UK, said: "Through our work, NCH knows first hand that tailoring services and working with a family as a whole can turn around the lives of the most vulnerable, impacting on the future of the family, the child and the local community.
"This investment will go a long way in helping break the cycle of poverty and low achievement many face by creating innovative ways to engage with the most vulnerable families, and provide a hub for people to access the support they need."
