This annotated bibliography of 322 items represents the first attempt to gather under one cover the information at present available about the multi-problem family, and the efforts that are being made in six countries around the world to meet one of the most difficult and challenging social problems of Western urban society. Professor Schlesinger's annotations of items published to April, 1965, include information from Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Holland, and the United States, and he has scrutinized articles, books, dissertations, monographs, pamphlets, and unpublished manuscripts. This third edition includes a new essay by the editor reviewing current efforts in Canada to cope with the problem.

In an introductory view of the subject, Dr. John C. Spencer attempts to clarify the concept of the "multi-problem family," to assess the development and nature of our present knowledge, and to discuss the lines of future study and practice. He points out that families troubled by a multiplicity of problems are clearly not the problem of any one country; they are found everywhere. But there can be little doubt that higher standards of wealth and the high expectations of behaviours held by the social welfare services of Western society have brought to public attention a difficult and challenging social problem that previously has remained concealed. People feel both puzzled and angry and, above all, frightened by the exploitative behaviour of the nonconformist minority of families who take from society far more than they contribute, who fail to respond to the efforts of social services to rehabilitate them, who appear to transmit the same patterns of behaviour from one generation to another, and whose disorganized and often destructive way of life seems to threaten society's basic values and standards.

Miss Beverly Ayres and Dr. Joseph Lagey contribute the first survey of programmes relating to the multi-problem families in North American communities. They summarize the steady, plan and operation of 143 communities in North America in relation to the multi-problem family, and the various approaches to treatment used in working with these families.

This book will be helpful to social workers, social scientists, community planning councils, social agencies, schools of social work, departments of sociology, departments of psychology, and those interested in family life education. It should be of particular value to investigators who are planning, or who are now involved in, research in this area.

Benjamin Schlesinger is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. He has previously published 22 academic books.

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‘This review of the literature and of the projects on the multi-problem family will be welcomed by both the practitioner and the research worker in welfare and associated fields. It contains brief notes on some 300 books, articles, and research and demonstration projects from a number of western countries, and also two special essays by well-known authorities who have been involved in research projects on multi-problem families.’

Canada’s Health and Welfare