Table of Contents


#### **Carolina Muñoz-Guzmán, Candice Fischer, Enrique Chia and Catherine LaBrenz**


#### **Ahmet Gümüscü, Lennart Nygren and Evelyn Khoo**


#### **Rolv Lyngstad**


#### **Eva K. Robertson**


#### **Natalia Hanley and Leah Ruppanner**


#### **Cristina González**


## List of Contributors

**Martin Atchison:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Elena Cabiati:** Department of Sociology, Catholic University of Milan, Largo A. Gemelli 1, Milano 20123, Italy.

**Enrique Chia:** School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avda, Vicuña Mackenna 4860 Macul, Santiago 781000, Chile.

**Paula Conneely:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Rayen Cornejo Torres:** School of Social Work, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 781000, Chile.

**Julia Danks:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Gráinne Fadden:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Candice Fischer:** School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avda, Vicuña Mackenna 4860 Macul, Santiago 781000, Chile.

**Cristina González:** Escuela de Trabajo Social, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Avenida Valparaíso s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Córdoba 5000, Argentina.

**Ahmet Gümüscü:** Department of Social Work, Umeå University, Umeå SE-90187, Sweden.

**Natalia Hanley:** Department of Criminology, University of Melbourne, 300 Grattan Street, Melbourne VIC 3003, Australia.

**Nathan Hughes:** School of Social Policy, The University of Birmingham, UK; Melbourne School of Government, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Australia.

**Rubina Jhadray:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Evelyn Khoo:** Department of Social Work, Umeå University, Umeå SE-90187, Sweden.

**Catherine LaBrenz:** Fundación Hogar Esperanza, Avenida Trinidad Oriente 3400 La Florida, Región Metropolitana, Santiago 4170000, Chile.

**Alison Lee:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Rolv Lyngstad:** Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nordland, Bodø N-8027, Norway.

**Chris Mansell:** The Meriden Family Programme, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Tall Trees, The Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY, UK.

**Carolina Muñoz-Guzmán:** School of Social Work, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avda, Vicuña Mackenna 4860 Macul, Santiago 781000, Chile

**Lennart Nygren:** Department of Social Work, Umeå University, Umeå SE-90187, Sweden.

**Eva K. Robertson:** Faculty of Professional Studies, University of Nordland, Bodø NO-8049, Norway.

**Ariel Rosales Ubeda:** School of Social Work, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 781000, Chile.

**Leah Ruppanner:** Department of Sociology, University of Melbourne, 300 Grattan Street, Melbourne VIC 3003, Australia.

**Maria Tsekoura:** School of Social Work, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avda, Vicuña Mackenna 4860 Macul, Santiago 781000, Chile.

## About the Guest Editors

**Nathan Hughes** is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Nathan was coordinator of the European Commissionfunded international research exchange programme, 'Understanding and supporting families with complex needs'. Engaging research teams in seven universities across six countries in Europe and Latin America, the project explored family-focused policies and practices across social care, education and health.

**Carolina Muñoz-Guzman** is Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Carolina graduated as MSW from Boston College US, and PhD in Social Policy from the Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Birmingham in UK. Currently, she is the Director of the School of Social Work at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her research focuses on children and families, especially social policy for these groups. She also studies social work education, and lately has been involved in projects related to family perceptions about risk and disasters.

## Preface

Family forms are many and varied, reflecting a myriad of understandings and influencing factors. In any given cultural context, normative notions of family structure, such as the `nuclear family', may not therefore reflect the reality of family life, experiences and functions, as described and articulated by families themselves; particularly those from minority or marginalized communities. Despite this complexity and perpetual change, the importance of family for the experience of both interdependence and individual support and well-being remains constant. This is particularly the case for `families with complex needs', who experience both a `breadth' of `interrelated or interconnected' needs and a `depth' of `profound, severe, serious or intense needs' (Rankin and Regan, 2004), and are therefore most reliant on services and support. This might include families affected by mental health needs, disability, caring responsibilities, migration and asylum seeking, criminal behavior, drug and alcohol misuse, and so on.

The increasing complexity of family life, alongside the continued important and complex role played by family in supporting members with particular needs, poses a range of challenges for services seeking to engage with families, particularly those with complex needs. For family-focused services to deliver effectively, the complexity of family roles, functions, and compositions therefore need to be examined and understood. Failure to recognize the structure, role and function of various family relationships may lead to ineffective service provision or a resistance to engage in support by the family. Nonetheless, there is significant evidence that existing policy and service provision finds `thinking family' both challenging and controversial.

Contributions to this text consider how 'families with complex needs' form and experience contemporary life, and how such understandings might inform policy and practice responses, including through examination of models and approaches to family-based policy and service provision. Drawing on fieldwork and analyses in a wide variety of countries and contexts, there is a particular emphasis on Latin America.

> Nathan Hughes and Carolina Munoz-Guzman *Guest Editors*
