Understanding and supporting families with multiple and complex needs is an area of policy and practice that is gaining importance and emphasis across the European Union and beyond. This growing policy interest is mirrored by emergent theoretical and empirical research in various countries. Despite this interest, a recent international research review of approaches to supporting families with complex needs, carried out by Morris, Hughes, Clarke and colleagues (2008) at the University of Birmingham, illustrates a stark paucity of academic analyses of policy and practice concerned specifically with ‘family’ in relation to a number of service user groups and marginalised communities. That which exists appears fragmented, with little coherency to the international knowledge base regarding current approaches, effective practice or appropriate research methodologies. This proposal therefore seeks to exploit existing and potential links between divergent disciplines and knowledge streams, both nationally and internationally, to enhance understandings of family-focused approaches across domains of social care, education, and health. It will explore theoretical frameworks, models and approaches dominant in particular practice settings, and their impact in responding to specific needs of families in each partner country. It will also explore the challenges, tensions and contradictions in implementing family-focused policies and practices, and the implications for professional knowledge and frameworks, and associated training. Drawing on the varying expertise of each partner, it will test strategies to address the challenges in the design of family-centred evaluation and research able to effectively capture the experiences for whole families, as families as well as individuals. In doing so, it will develop a network of universities with expertise in family-related research and form the basis for a much wider network, able to utilise and contribute to our analyses.