Supporting Families : A comparative study of outcomes and costs of services for children in need

Supporting families in times of crisis requires expensive resources, but little is known about the costs and effectiveness of family support services.

This study looks at the full range of services provided in two local authorities to forty families who were on the point of breaking down without support.

It compares costs in the two authorities and the outcomes for the families after three months.

What services were offered to families, by different agencies, to try to prevent family breakdown?

How much did these services cost? How had the circumstances and well-being of parents and children changed three months later?

What did families think of the services they were offered and the social work support they received?

The book describes the approach adopted in the study to measuring outcomes and costing family support services and the problems that were encountered.

This will make it useful reading for social work practitioners, planners and purchasers; Best Value officers; and all those concerned with providing and costing services to support families with young children.