Tracing an ethic of care in the policy and practice of the troubled families programme

Abstract

This paper engages with ongoing debates about care ethics in order to evaluate current policy and practice emerging out of the Troubled Families Unit. Firstly, it reflects upon the experiences of families and their key workers, and the value that they place on care ethics within family support services. Secondly, using Sevenhuijsen's (2004) 'Trace' framework for policy analysis, it questions the extent to which the family intervention model advocated within the Troubled Families Programme encompasses an ethic of care, how this may be undermined by opposing policy discourses around 'troubled families', and the impact of managerialist tendencies within the Troubled Families Programme.