Family-Support Programs: Opportunities for Community-based Practice

Abstract

The authors present guidelines for social work practice in the growing, interdisciplinary field of family-support programs. The history and contemporary form of family-support programs are described, and a “best practice” approach is delineated. Emergent areas are discussed, and the salience of social work's contribution in family-support programs is identified. Innovative aspects of the family-support approach include family-building and family-strengthening activities, an educational framework for intervention, the mediating function of family support, and multilevel approaches to developing community.

Consumer Perceptions of Outreach and Marketing Strategies for Family Resource Centers

“…Despite this programmatic variability, there are common threads guiding FRCs. These include community-based locations, involvement of community residents and consumers in program design and leadership, connection with all families, culturally-sensitive practice, and the provision of multiple or comprehensive services (Allen & Petr, 1996;Dunst, Trivette & Deal, 1994;Knitzer, 1997;Lightburn & Kemp, 1994;Romualdi & Sandoval, 1997;Weissbourd & Kagan, 1989;Zigler & Black, 1989). Dunst, Trivette and Thompson (1990) describe family support programs as efforts to strengthen the functioning and enhance the growth and development of families by providing needed resources and supports.…”

“…FRCs have diverse roots in both social work and in early child development, including the Settlement House movement of the early 1900s, the Parent Education movements of the 1920s, the Head Start and Parent Child Centers of the Poverty Programs of the 1960s, and the Family Resource and Support Program movement of the 1980s (Goetz, 1992;Kagan & Weissbourd, 1994;Lightburn & Kemp, 1994;Zigler & Berman, 1983). This historic diversity is reflected in the differing emphasis in FRCs nationwide (Kutash & Rivera, 1995) on direct services and on locality and leadership development.…”

Race and Ethnicity as Moderators of Neighborhood Bonding Social Capital: Effects on Employment Outcomes for Families Living in Low-Income Neighborhoods

“…Numerous antipoverty programs and related interventions are built on the idea that if neighborhoods can build better social support networks and reduce the isolation of individuals and families, they can promote better outcomes for families and the neighborhood (Jordan, 2006). Examples of this premise include the work of The Annie E. Casey Foundation Social Network project (Bailey, 2006;Jordan) or the Head Start Family Support Centers (Lightburn & Kemp, 1994). As part of their mission and goals, these programs explicitly support the development of social capital through the promotion of social networks, beginning with bonding social capital or like groups of community residents.…”

Family centres: protection and promotion at the heart of theChildren Act1989

“…A paradigm and theory to guide family centre practice has emerged in a number of forms, based on implicit practices identified by staff and evaluators and on meta-analyses of cross-national programmes (eg. Lightburn & Kemp, 1994;McMahon & Ward, 2001;Hess et al, 2003;Brandon, 2006;Lightburn & Warren-Adamson, 2006;Warren-Adamson & Lightburn, 2006). While these theories and models for practice support the continued development of family centre practice, considerable challenges need to be noted.…”