The decline in Federal funding for state-provided social services during the 1980s triggered a transformation in the states' roles in family policymaking. This booklet documents four state initiatives designed to bring about systems change: (1) Healthy Start (California); (2) the Governor's Families and Children Initiative (Colorado); (3) the Children, Youth, and Families Department (New Mexico); and (4) the Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families (West Virginia). These states share a common resolve to restructure their programs, but each has followed a different course in building support for its actions and designing structures appropriate to needs and resources. The California effort attempts to create a statewide network of school-based multiservice child and family centers. In Colorado, emphasis is on a broad reform effort that grew from a two-year policy academy. Creation of a new department to consolidate child and family services is described in New Mexico, and a strong cabinet council for facilitating local collaboration is a feature of the West Virginia program. Five maps and three tables illustrate the discussion. (Contains 27 references.) (SLD)