Families at Risk Review
The Social Exclusion Task Force is leading a cross-Whitehall review on
excluded families.
The aims of the review are:
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To set out a vision of an effective family support system for families
with additional or complex needs.
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To identify barriers and practical solutions to the provision of a
coherent whole family approach for these families. A key focus will be on
how adult's services respond to their clients as parents or carers.
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To agree action to better integrate adult, child and community services
around the needs of excluded families in order to tackle the drivers of
deep seated exclusion.
In March 2007 the Social Exclusion Task Force held three conferences to
discuss the key points of the review. We also published new data revealing
the challenges in reaching families at risk of social exclusion.
Reaching Out: Think Family
Reaching Out: Think Family is the first stage of our
Families At Risk Review. This report sets out interim analysis and themes
on the multiple problems faced by some of the most excluded families in
society.
The report focuses on public services and asks what more can be done to
improve the outcomes of the small minority of families who continue to
experience multiple problems in their lives. In particular, it poses
questions to adults’ services about the extent to which they treat their
clients as parents and family members. The report suggests that there are
opportunities to build on the logic of integration from Every Child Matters
to better coordinate all services (including adults' services) so that
they can tackle the root causes of families’ disadvantage.
The report includes:
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Analysis of the opportunities to improve systems and coordinate support
better.
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New analysis of families facing multiple disadvantage and parent–based
risk factors.
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A look at the systems and services that support families, highlighting
key issues including the need for greater integration, better
identification and intervention through capitalising on the reach of the
public sector and ways to incentivise the system to focus on the most
excluded families.
The Social Exclusion Task Force will work with stakeholders and other
government departments to develop policy proposals to be published in
autumn 2007.
