| Abstract: | SUMMARY. This article is based on an opening address given in March 1988 at the National Children's bureau conference on ‘Family fortunes: adapting support services for children in changing families’. It argues that the family is not a static unit impervious to outside influence and that on the contrary it is essential we understand the reasons why families change in certain respects and even try to anticipate such changes, as only then is it possible to target support services effectively. This should be done at the level of interpersonal relationships rather than family structure, for research on the determinants of child development has singled out this level as the crucial one |
