This paper is an examination of the effectiveness of a programme (described in detail elsewhere) designed to admit whole families for short-term intensive assessment and treatment. The goals of this programme are to eliminate residential care for symptomatic children who are admitted with their families to this service, to decrease the length of stay of the symptomatic child in residential treatment, if this is required following admission of the whole family to this unit, and to provide these services at costs comparable to or less than that currently being spent with conventional residential treatment. Results stemming from a number of pre- and post-treatment measures indicate that one half of the children initially assessed and recommended for inpatient treatment had successfully avoided inpatient treatment for six months following admission of their family to this unit. For children recommended for residential care after admission of their families to the family unit, a reduction of approximately 35% of total time in residence occurred (when compared with a comparison group). A cost saving of over +12,000 per case was realized as a result of admission of the whole family when compared with residential treatment.

This is a program description of a short-term residential unit in which whole families are assessed and treated. This unit provides an alternative treatment format for exploring situations where removal of the child appears to be the only remaining option. It also provides an in-depth consultation for agencies who are "stuck" in their treatment of family systems and allows for the teaching of family systems intervention techniques in a non-threatening way. It also allows an opportunity for an external system to reframe, what are, to the involved clinician, impasses with clinical problems. The program, because of its structure, introduces anxiety and tension into systems with chronic mental health problems. It, therefore, serves as, not a panacea, but as an adjunct to more traditional treatment for rigid and resistant systems.