‘Getting with the (troubled families) programme’: a review

Abstract

The commitment of the appointed Director General of the Troubled Families Unit, Louise Casey, that the Troubled Families Programme (TFP) was ‘an opportunity not to repeat the failed attempts of the past’ masks several enduring continuities (Casey, 2012: 3). This review article argues that the TFP should be seen as part of a wider spectrum of policies which locates ‘troubles’ or ‘problems’ in the family itself and emphasises behaviour as the target of action without regard to wider social or economic considerations. This policy process must be understood within a wider context of not only historical efforts ‘to constrain the redistributive potential of state welfare’ (Macnicol, 1987: 316) but also of contemporary forms of neoliberal governance of ‘the family’ (Butler, 2014; Crossley, 2016a; Gillies, 2014).

Vulnerable Children, Young People, and Families: Policy, Practice, and Social Justice in England and Scotland

“…The kind of transactional, relationship-based approaches (Tilly, 2008) found in parts of the Families Programme was very different from those envisaged in the Governments' approach to family policy, where policy and rhetoric shifted responsibility on to "troubled" (Lambert & Crossley, 2017) and "antisocial" families (Hayden & Jenkins, 2015), as already indicated. Fathers were also engaged in the programme in some cases, a group which many previous initiatives have found hard to involve (Allen & Daly, 2007), and families were more involved in decisionmaking generally.…”

Between “Families in Trouble” and “Children at Risk”: Historicising “Troubled Family” Policy in England since 1945

“…There remains some room for local operationalisation, so long as the targets are achieved (Ipsos Mori Public Affairs, ; Pereira and others, ), although the payment‐by‐results metrics mean that services are discontinued once families are ‘turned around’ (Crossley, ). Financial pressures aggravated by austerity means most local authorities are more accommodating in following central government ‘best practice’ (Lambert and Crossley, ; Hastings and others, ).…”

“…The similarities and continuities between ‘problem’ families in the post‐1945 period and ‘troubled’ families since 2011 are marked, but have been considered elsewhere (Lambert and Crossley, ). The discussion here concentrates on the rise and fall of these ideas in relation to concerns over child welfare, and their location in the family.…”

Struggles and Silences: Young People and the ‘Troubled Families Programme’

“…The Troubled Families Programme (TFP) was announced in December 2011 (DCLG, 2011a; see introduction, Lambert and Crossley, 2016). The objectives of the scheme were embedded in strict criteria measured on the basis of getting children back into school, reducing criminal and anti-social behaviour, getting parents back into work and, significantly, reducing costs to the tax payer and local authorities.…”