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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and application of the KIPP-list of care activities. The acronym KIPP stands for Knowledge and Insight into Primary Processes. The instrument is intended as a tool for family coaches to systematically report care activities conducted in the Dutch family support programme Ten for the Future (in Dutch: Tien voor Toekomst). Design/methodology/approach – The design of the instrument was based on the components of the programme and a literature search for similar instruments used in the Netherlands, complemented by a staff survey. A series of three studies was carried out to test the instrument’s validity and user-friendliness, and to assess its potential for programme evaluation. Findings – The majority of care activities were performed in cooperation with one or both parents alone, and less frequently with children or external professionals. Although the main focus of the work of the family coaches fell into the categories of “collecting information” and “working towards (behavioural) change” with families, the relatively high frequency of all the types of care contacts emphasises the intensity of this family support programme with a complex target group. Originality/value – Data gathered with the instrument provided meaningful information by descriptive analysis. KIPP thereby proved its general feasibility in increasing insight into service provision. The instrument can be useful in several stages and on several levels of quality assurance and service optimisation, including reflective practice, supervision, team management and research.

Although parental problems and poor parenting are commonly associated with adolescents' admission to secure residential care, few studies examined these parental characteristics. This study aims to identify parental problems and strengths and their association with parenting styles for 64 of these parents. We assessed perspectives of both adolescents and their parent figures shortly after admission. Parents often report high levels of psychopathology for both mothers and fathers, respectively, including depression (54.7% and 39.1%), anxiety (29.7% and 12.5%), substance dependence (14.1% and 26.6%), antisocial behaviour (1.6% and 21.1%), and psychosis (11.0% and 9.4%). Parents also report high parenting stress specifically related to the behaviour of their child. In contrast to our expectations, most parents experience a high quality of life. Living in a 1‐parent family, being unemployed and having debts are most frequently mentioned risk factor combinations. We found limited support for the hypothesis that parents with more risk and less protective factors show poorer parenting. Parents with more psychopathology and parenting stress do show poorer parenting than parents without these problems. Based on our findings, we describe several implications for engaging and supporting parents of adolescents in secure residential care.

The enhancement of community-based, ambulant care for children with serious behavioural problems (in German: "Ambulantisierung") implies supporting them as long as possible in their own family environment. One tries to avoid an out-of-home placement. This policy, strongly underlined during the last 20 years, shows merits but also raises questions. The emphasis on ambulant care and treatment was coupled with a decline in availability and appreciation of residential childcare services. Based on a theoretical model of family support and relevant empirical findings in the field we plead in favor of a complementary role for ambulatory and non-ambulatory services; both directed at lending professional support to children and families in need of care.