The Family Assessment and Goal Establishment Model (FAGEM) draws its major impetus and structure from recent writings and trends in education, social planning, and family counseling. Built on a series of related premises addressing rural low income family needs, FAGEM can be reduced to four operational program delivery phases which include the following objectives and activities: Individual Family Needs Assessment (working in cooperation with the change agent, the family identifies and prioritizes its needs; at the conclusion of this phase, the primary needs of the family should be established and a trust relationship should be developed between the change agent and the family); Goal Establishment (the family and the change agent establish short-term, realistic goals and establish the basis for the initial delivery of educational services); Intervention (the change agent either: makes effective referrals to other community resources when goals are established which are beyond the scope of the program or require more training than the change agent has received or utilizes the training received to deliver a personalized family life education program designed to address the established goal); Family Needs Reassessment (the family and the change agent reassess family needs in terms of progress toward the goal, other needs which have emerged as the relationship between the change agent and the family has become more intimate, and the change agent's personal assessment of the family's needs; this should lead to further establishment of goals and FAGEM recycling or termination). (JC)