Abstract

This chapter explores the role of the Coalition Government’s Troubled Families Programme as a mechanism for preventing anti-social behaviour. The political agendas underpinning the programme are identified, examining the ways in which this programme both reflects broader Conservative Party ideologies and echoes earlier New Labour family intervention policy. The shifting discourses around family support are addressed, focusing on the ideological depiction of ‘troubled’ families as anti-social, rather than as vulnerable and in need. Critiques of family intervention projects are revisited to highlight the risk of generating oppressive practices based in the increasing regulation of disadvantaged families. By contrast, the ways in which individual keyworkers and local ‘troubled families’ teams may challenge government discourses and thereby develop more meaningful understandings of family problems are identified. It is argued that these approaches have the potential to promote more supportive and empowering interventions and therefore provide more effective ways of preventing ‘anti-social’ behaviour.