Then the unique story of each of the participating projects is described in project descriptions which served as a basis for Seminar discussions. Finally, the insights and conclusions reached during the Seminar discussions, including similarities and differences among the projects, strategies for achieving project viability, and dilemmas of practice are presented. A set of 11 practice principles found to be implicit in the work of the participating projects are presented as a first step in developing a body of practice knowledge for those who wish to serve these populations. Workers listen to, believe in, and act on what family members say that they think, feel, and need. Workers look beyond the family's present situation for unseen potentials which they help family members actualize.
Workers are flexible in terms of place, time, intensity and format of contacts.
Workers are attentive to feedback from family members and let it change their direction. The book's documented accounts of alternative approaches to social service practice demonstrate successful efforts to break the cycle of poverty and despair engendered, in part, by years of mutual distrust between public agencies and their clients. These examples show that intensive investment in both workers and families can bring about a shift in direction and help build the basic trust which is a prerequisite to successful intervention. All those who are seeking to improve the effectiveness of policies and programs, whether as trainers, funders, policymakers, managers or practitioners will find the insights contained herein to be crucial underpinnings to workable reform efforts. Lisbeth Schorr , in the Foreword to the book, Out From Under.