Produced by the Evaluation Management Group for the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Social Development

This document provides a final report on the development and implementation of the government-funded Family Start programme, a multi-departmental, community-based programme providing concentrated, in-home support services to children and parents of at-risk families for up to five years where the mother, at the time of referral, is in her second or third trimester of pregnancy, or has a child less than six months old. A part of the Government's Strengthening Families initiative developed in the mid-1990s, it is a 'strengths-based' programme aimed at improving child development and well-being, parents' personal and family circumstances, and parenting capability and practice. The project's three prototype locations all had either high Maori or Pacific Island populations. The report pulls together a number of key evaluation documents produced between 1998 and 2002, in particular those relating to the process evaluation. It seeks to answer three primary research questions: "Has the Family Start programme been implemented according to the Family Start Programme Operating Guidelines (1998) provided by Government policy?"; "Has the Family Start programme been implemented successfully, according to the policy makers, providers, clients and the community?"; and "Have the theoretical and practical components of the programme been satisfactorily developed?". In addition, the report discusses the challenges involved in providing Family Start programme services, and emerging and on-going issues with its implementation. The report's findings highlight the quite different ways in which the Family Start Programme Operating Guidelines had been implemented in the three prototype sites (with all sites providing services to families that meet the expected criteria). However, a number of factors influenced the establishment and success of services, including governance structures; time required to establish referral and community agency relationships, as well as necessary internal practices; appropriate staff availability and subsequent service credibility; and database ease of use and applicability. Preliminary difficulties with initial operating guidelines were limited and these were addressed in an early review. Initial indications were that the location that had already established governance structures and community credibility was able to more rapidly expand the service's focus from the mother to the wider whanau and community.

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