This is a chapter from the distance learning text for the 'Working in Partnership through Early Support' accredited training programme. "Our intention in this chapter... is to provide a theory of helping, known as the Family Partnership Model. It is based upon the notion that the most effective relationship between parent and helper is a partnership, as first discussed by Mittler, Cunningham and others in the 1970s. It is an explicit and relatively simple framework intended as a guide for all people working with children and their families. Having described the theory, we will look briefly at its implications for service development, training and professional support, the use of the Early Support materials in promoting partnership and the evidence for working in this way." - pp. 2-
