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Family intervention projects cut antisocial behaviour

Family intervention projects have been hailed a success by children's minister Beverley Hughes.

Research into the projects, which were set up across England in 2006 to help cut antisocial behaviour and improve parenting, found antisocial behaviour, domestic violence and bad parenting all reduced among those who were involved with the programmes.

According to the research, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research on behalf of the Respect taskforce, the number of children with educational problems such as truancy fell from 37 per cent to 21 per cent after working with the family intervention project.

Bad parenting also fell, from 60 per cent at the start of the projects to 32 per cent when they left.

The projects involved a key worker working with each family, offering support and showing families better ways of behaving and coping.

Hughes said: "Most families don't choose to become antisocial. They do so because of underlying problems they do not know how to deal with. This research shows that family intervention projects are turning things around for some of the most disadvantaged families in our society."

The research looked at 90 families involved with intervention projects. It found the number of families facing antisocial behaviour orders fell from 45 per cent to 23 per cent, and domestic violence in families was reduced by two-thirds. The risk of families being evicted was also reduced.

Clare Tickell, chief executive of children's charity NCH, which led the family intervention projects, said: "It is essential that this model is replicated across the country to address the needs of the hardest to reach."

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