GOOD PRACTICE WITH MULTIPLY VULNERABLE YOUNG FAMILIES - CHALLENGES AND PRINCIPLES

What has served in the literature as the paradigm of highest risk fami ly life-chronic financial and material hardship, vulnerable and overwh elmed parents, overburdened social support networks, and an unsupporti ve community context-is rapidly becoming the norm for young families i n urban poverty. When present together, these risk factors create a va riety of special challenges to those who would provide formal help and support around parenting and other dimensions of family life. In this article I examine the challenges of work with multiply vulnerable you ng families; discuss helping principles responsive to them; and sugges t how these principles can be supported in frontline practice.