Family Poverty: Reviewing the Evidence for an Integrated Community-Based Practice
editThis chapter addresses community-based family centre practice as a professional and practice response to poverty. It takes as its context two affluent national constituencies, the US and the UK, both nonetheless witnessing disproportionate and substantial family poverty. We highlight the case for family centres as a robust, practice response to child poverty, considering the recent emphasis on the potential of second generation programs, as we review the consistent evidence of some 20 years for a community-based and family-centred response. We reiterate a structure for an integrated model to respond to the complex needs of disenfranchised children, parents, and their communities. Globally, family centres are still setting a pace in transformative, multi-level services according to the politics, capacity, and characteristics of the jurisdictions in which they operate. Above all, siloed practice is an inappropriate response to poverty. We note the complexity and intersectional nature of poverty, and highlight community and a full-frame approach to practice integration.