This book reports on a study of the urban poor in New York City focusing on the effectiveness of a model of service for this population. The project studied 160 families who were clients of the Lower East Side Family Union, an agency that aims to prevent foster care placement and to help clients mobilize their own coping capacities and to make better use of the resources available in the community. The model focuses on establishing a provider-client relationship that leads to a mutual assessment of needs, priorities, and responses; and on strengthening the family to avoid family dissolution and child placement. The model's core is the concept of a contract that is written individually for each client and that clearly states the client's needs and what services will be offered. Study data were time ordered and collected from the social work associate responsible for the cases and the clients through a content analysis of caseworker records and direct interviews with the subjects. Part I of the book is an introduction to the study. Part II discusses the external variables affecting the family. Part III describes the families and their problems. Part IV discusses the effectiveness of the service process and the conclusion of the research. Four appendixes contain two debriefing schedules for interviewing the social work associates, a client interview schedule, and a scale creation strategy. Also included are 40 references. (JB)