Family support programs are proactive efforts based on the assumptions that families have primary responsibility for their children's development and well-being; healthy families are the foundation of a healthy society; families operate as part of a total system; and social service agencies should assist families' efforts to raise their children effectively. Typical program components include life skills training, parent education and support groups, parent-child groups and family activities, informal interaction, information and referral services, and crisis intervention. In recent years, school initiatives to support families have focused on work with preschool parents to ensure children's school readiness; the involvement of parents in school programs and administration; and the integration of community health and social services into the school. A number of states have taken ambitious steps toward directly addressing the social service and health needs of at-risk students and their families. Programs such as Texas's Communities in Schools Programs, New Jersey's School Based Youth Services Program, Connecticut's Family Resource Center Program, and Kentucky's Family Resource and Youth Service Centers Program represent efforts to locate a full spectrum of health and social services in close proximity to students and families. The challenge for these programs is to integrate local, state, and federal health and social services into public school systems that are funded largely through local taxation. Brief descriptions of these four programs and five resource organizations are provided. (AC)