'Troubled Families' and Inter-agency Collaboration: Lessons from Historical Comparative Analysis.

Many of the challenges associated with implementing the Government's current 'troubled families' programme have their precedent in the past. Conceptualisations of the issues framing family deprivation and need have followed a cyclical pattern, and greater inter-agency collaboration in the field of children and family services has regularly been proposed across the centuries. Yet policy initiatives tend to be characterised by 'historical amnesia'. The '"Troubled families" and inter-agency collaboration: lessons from historical comparative analysis' project is a creative demonstration of the value of secondary analysis of historically situated material for high impact contemporary voluntary agency strategy lessons. It is founded on a close partnership between the academic researchers and the Family Action voluntary agency, which has been a leading provider of services to disadvantaged families since its foundation as the Charity Organisation Society in 1869.

The study applies an historical comparative lens to explore how, over time, the problems faced and engendered by the poorest in society have been variously interpreted and addressed through collaborative agency working in times of economic constraint. It draws on a unique and under-exploited data set: archived Family Action case work papers stretching back to the late 19th century. Up to five cases for in-depth analysis will be drawn from four key historical periods, to capture the challenges faced by families themselves and family support agencies during times of economic hardship: The Long Depression (1873-1896), The Great Depression (1930-1934), The Oil Crisis (1973-1975) and The Global Crisis (2008-2012). Family cases will be selected on the basis of being: London-based; families with dependent children facing problems of poverty, ill health and poor housing; and involving at least three agencies.

The study will provide critical reflections on changes and continuities in (a) inter-agency collaboration to support families during and across four major period of economic recession and shifting scenarios of state-third sector relations, and (b) constructions of families as socially problematic and marginalised, of their needs and solutions to them. Findings from the research will feed into Family Action's strategies to enhance collaboration with other agencies, strengthen its sense of its historical identity and longer term outcomes and impact, and attract new funders for the social benefit of its users. The researchers will work in partnerships with Family Action to disseminate lessons about inter-agency collaboration to support 'troubled families' in times of economic austerity in the children, families and poverty field. In addition the research will make a contribution to the development of methodological practice for historical comparative work and knowledge about inter-agency collaboration in the sociological and social policy fields.

Our detailed strategy for maximising impact, underpinned by measurable and visible pubic outputs and summarised in Pathways to Impact, aims to work in partnership with the Family Action voluntary agency to ensure a series of key short and long term benefits from our research.

For Family Action itself, the research will have an organisational impact in relation to three key areas of strategic development:

1. Development of a strategy for collaboration with other agencies in delivering services in the children, families and poverty field to support 'troubled families' in times of current and future economic austerity. The research will have a social and economic impact in providing Family Action with insights into future possibilities founded in knowledge about ways in which the organisation has collaborated with other agencies in varying contexts of economic recession and state-third sector relations over time.

2. The embedding of a strongly rooted identity and awareness of the organisation's history:
(i) towards its 150th anniversary celebrations in 2019, and
(ii) an historical perspective on the agency's longer term impact.
The research will take advantage of the power of narratives to have a social impact in considerably enhancing Family Action's knowledge and sense of the foundations, trajectory and outcomes of its practice with families facing difficulties, and providing materials to convey these publicly.

3. Retention of established and attraction of new funders for Family Action services to the benefit of its users. Development of strategies for inter-agency collaboration and to strengthen historical identity may have an economic impact on the agency's ability to retain and raise funding, which in turn will have a social impact for users.

More widely, the partnership with Family Action will maximise impact of the research's policy and practice relevance. Insights from the research concerning inter-agency collaboration in times of economic recession and austerity to support disadvantaged and marginalised families will be of interest to government policymakers and third sector agencies in the children, families and poverty field generally. For example, lessons from the research will key directly into 'The Family Room' network's aim of supporting strategic collaboration across charities working with families, such as 4Children, Child Poverty Action Group, Children's Society, Coram, Family and Childcare Trust, Family Lives, Gingerbread, and Home Start.

Public audiences will also benefit, more indirectly, though enhanced social awareness and understanding of inter-agency collaboration to support 'troubled families'. We expect the research outcomes to be of interest to the media, and lay public. We will draw on the expertise of Family Action's media and marketing team to reach these audiences, including through online exhibition, and a high profile seminar/reception event.