The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has launched a five-year initiative that will support state efforts to build comprehensive early childhood service systems. This initiative--the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative--provides planning and implementation grants to the state and territory Maternal and Child Health agencies for the purposes of coordinating, integrating, improving access to, and improving the quality of health, early education and family support services for young children and their families. This paper addresses the family support component of the SECCS Initiative. Its goal is to provide a framework for thinking about family support first in terms of its philosophy, relevance to the early childhood field, strategies and service delivery platforms. Secondly, it summarizes what is known about the effectiveness and funding mechanisms for key family support strategies. Lastly, a number of recommendations are made regarding how SECCS Initiatives can play an important role in developing partnerships and leadership that enhance access, integration and quality of family support services, as well as help link these efforts with the other components of the SECCS Initiative. The following are appended: (1) Web Resources; (2) Home Visiting Best Practices; (3) Model Program--Ounce of Prevention; (4) Model Program--The Hope Street Family Center; and (5) Model Program--Nurse Home Visitation Program. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.) [For related policy brief, see ED496883. This publication was produced by the National Center for Infant and Early Childhood Health Policy, an active collaboration between the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), the Women and Children's Health Policy Center at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).]