1900s

COS continued its innovative work into the twentieth century.

In 1938, Family Action founded the first Citizens Advice Bureau. During the Depression these advice centres burgeoned, prompting NCVO to make a grant to help establish a charity to develop a national network and standardise the advice that was being given to people. The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (now Citizens Advice) was born. Family Action continued to run a large number of Citizens Advice Bureaux until the 1970s.

During the Second World War, COS opened the Family Guidance Service, which provided help to victims of flying bombs.  Family Service Units were established in all of the major cities in the UK that were the target of bombings. They offered a roof and emergency help to families whose homes were severely bomb damaged. In the immediate post war years, COS staff were influential in advising the government on establishment of  the Welfare State.

In 1946, COS was renamed the Family Welfare Association (Family Action). In 1948, most of the social casework that had been provided to families by the COS became a statutory responsibility and the families that the committees had worked with for so long were transferred to the new Children’s Departments that were established within the Welfare State.
Family Action sought a new role to replace the work that local Government had now taken on. Its social casework was refocused to provide in-depth therapeutic help for some of the most troubled families. For the first time Family Action began to receive substantial sums from the new Children’s Departments to provide its services.

Family Action ceased to be staffed only by volunteers. Staff training was prioritised and Family Action found an important role in training student social workers – a commitment that continues today. In the 1990s Family Action rediscovered the important contribution that volunteers can make to our work. Today we have over 400 volunteers working in our services.

In the post war years Family Action continued to innovate and develop new solutions to meet the emerging and changing needs of families. In 1948, the Family Discussion Bureau was opened, the first Guide to the Social Services was published, and the Educational Grants Advisory Service was formed (EGAS is still an important part of what we do today).

In 1975, when family therapy was virtually unheard of in Britain, Family Action organised the first UK family therapy conference. In 1978, Family Action introduced the first GP attached social workers, to ease the burden of over stretched local GPs and to offer patients a more collaborative and integrated service. Today, Family Action’s WellFamily services promote health and wellbeing by providing support services for families and individuals in stigma free, community based settings. These include GP surgeries, health centres and, most recently, in the accident and emergency department of a large hospital.

In 1980, Family Action took over the management of almshouses in Putney and Hackney and others soon followed across southern England. Family Action established a management service to support local trustees managing the almshouses and, under our guidance the homes, all for elderly people, were modernised, which included bringing sanitation indoors. The almshouse management service was transferred to Anchor Housing Association in 1997.

In the 1970s and ‘80s the Government began the reorganisation of psychiatric hospitals and re-providing of mental health services in the community. Family Action opened its first psychiatric residential service for those with serious mental ill health problems in 1988 and .Our adult mental health services continued to grow and we soon added day centres and care at home support services.  In 1999 Family Action developed a pioneering service for families where a parent has severe mental health difficulties (Building Bridges). The services provide holistic support for parents and children.

Today

1800s