This is a chapter from the distance learning text for the 'Working in Partnership through Early Support' accredited training programme. "The Early Support family pack and accompanying Early Support professional guidance (Department for Education and Skills (DfES), 2004a) are set in a clear framework of service delivery and family interaction. With Together from the Start (DfES/Department of Health (DoH), 2003), they advocate “flexible, family-centred support that is competent, compassionate, comprehensive, continuous, well-coordinated and culturally sensitive”. However, without first investigating how individual families work together, professionals cannot begin to deliver a service which can respond to the changing needs of those families. This chapter seeks to involve readers in considering family characteristics and their own ethos of responsive and inclusive practice." - Page 2
