Research Review: Family centres: a review of the literature

Abstract

This paper provides a review of the literature about family centres and other examples of centre‐based practice. The literature reflects a period of some 25 years in which practice has sought to integrate protection, support for families and local development in local centres. The literature shows great descriptive activity in the 1980s, and some Children Act (1989) sponsored studies, particularly of the voluntary sector, in the early 1990s, followed by inactivity before a new and more sophisticated literature emerges in the late 1990s and early 2000. While lacking experimental design, the strengths of the contemporary picture show in the appreciative voice of the user, including those at the very margins; studies of support programmes nurtured by centres; lessons about socially inclusive practice and the melding of formality and informality; theorization about centre‐based practice as a containing space; and attempts to understand complexity and synergy and to develop a theory of change. This domain of practice appears to have much to offer the new UK child care strategy and inter‐professional context if the opportunity is taken.

A qualitative study of parents' experiences using family support services: applying the concept of surface and depth

“…Different forms of parenting support available can be identified by the mode of delivery and setting, with formal and informal help available for individuals, groups and families either in the home, community centres, specialist facilities or via virtual spaces supported by electronic media (Whittaker & Cowley ). Centre‐based support is often used as a key means of providing services for families with the most acute needs (Warren‐Adamson , Fernandez ). However, service availability alone does not ensure that needs are met, as other contextual factors play an important part in whether parents engage sufficiently to gain benefit from parenting and family support (Axford et al .…”

Family Preservation Services: Types of Services Rendered by Social Workers to at-Risk Families

“…Experts emphasise the advantages of family support services that focus on giving families access to services, resources or networks in the community in order to ensure that the children of at-risk families remain within the family and thereby avoid the need for statutory services (Chaffin, Bonner & Hill, 2001;Jack, 1997;Nair, Blake & Vosler, 1997;Pithouse & Tasiran, 2000;Warren-Adamson, 2006). Examples of such services are parent education programmes, family support services such as feeding schemes, play groups, and school-or community-based resource centres (Armstrong & Hill, 2001:351;Cole, 1995:165;Pierson, 2004:81;Tracy, 1995:974).…”

Open pre-schools at integrated health services - A program theory

“…The professional compliance approach facilitated the creation of an informal social network that might remind us of a persistent family [2, 13]. Parents interacted actively in dialogues or merely listened to others while they played with their child/children.…”