Child and Family Social Work 2004, 9, pp 91–104 © 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 91 Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKCFSChild and Family Social Work1365-2206Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2004February 20049191104Original ArticleEffective interventions to promote child and family wellnessE Fernandez Correspondence: Elizabeth Fernandez PhD, School of Social Work, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia Keywords: assessment, client perspectives, family centres, family support, intervention, parenting stress Accepted for publication: October 2003 Effective interventions to promote child and family wellness: a study of outcomes of intervention through Children’s Family Centres Elizabeth Fernandez School of Social Work, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia ABSTRACT This paper reports research carried out in Australia designed to eval- uate the impact of family support interventions by comparing the views of families and their caseworkers with respect to the perceived benefits and outcomes of the interventions in the context of changes in family functioning and parent–child relationships, and the extent to which changes led to reduced involvement in protective services. The intervention was monitored over a six-month period using a pre- and post-test design, incorporating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the methodology. The paper discusses: problem domains identified; changes in caregivers’ level of distress, problem solving and learning ability, bonding style and use of discipline; parents’ and children’s cooperation with the programme; and impli- cations of the findings for policy and research methodology. INTRODUCTION Family based services have received considerable pub- lic and professional support because they enable fam- ilies to remain intact while addressing issues that threaten child well being (Berry 1997). Internation- ally initiatives are emerging which emphasize the pre- vention of abuse and enhancement of the parenting potential of families and the community. In the UK the principle of partnership with parents and the re-focusing of Children Services has followed the Department of Health’s Child Protection: Messages from Research which argued that family support should be a mechanism for protecting children not an alter- native to child protection (Little & Mount 1999). The UK Department of Health Parenting Initiative and its Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need (Department of Health 2000) reflect this dual empha- sis. In the USA the infrastructure of family preserva- tion services has resulted in greater emphasis on family support and shared care in place of the exclu- sive focus on child rescue. Parallel developments are evident in Australian child welfare, reflected in a range of models of family based services (Campbell 1994; Scott & O’Neill 1996). In New South Wales a new initiative of the Government entitled ‘Families First’ was launched to assist young families in need with a configuration of support services through the Depart- ment of Community Services, Health, Education and Training, Housing and the Office of Children and Young People (Premier’s Department of New South Wales 1999). Family support services in Australia are supported through legal and policy frameworks. The New South Wales Children’s and Young Person’s (Care and Protection) Act 1998 came into effect in November 2000 emphasizing principles of ‘least intrusiveness’ and mandating efforts to provide alter- native forms of support before taking children into care. Over the last two decades there have been a range of outcome studies in the USA examining the impact of family preservation services on preventing chil- dren’s entry to protective care (Feldman 1991; Pecora et al . 1995). Using placement rates and other system- based indicators as outcome measures, these studies reported very positive findings in avoiding placements for the families immediately after treatment, at three months post-intervention and at one year after the cessation of services (Nelson 1990; Fraser et al. 1991). The data indicate that family based