FamILens
FamILens: A Model for Assessing the Impact of Policies and Practices on Family Relationships
The FamILens is a model designed to analyze the impact of policies and practices on family relationships. It is based on six principles that should serve as guiding criteria in public policies, social services, and corporate welfare to generate positive outcomes for families. The underlying assumption is that any decision made in the fields of services, policies, and the market – whether intentional or not – affects the families' daily lives and well-being. Being aware of such impact and acting accordingly improves both the effectiveness of those implementing these policies and interventions, as well as the well-being of the families and, consequently, of the society as a whole.
Although it focuses on family impact, the FamILens does not measure structural indicators. Instead, drawing on research evidence and established theoretical approaches, such as the capabilities approach, it posits that enhancing family well-being – particularly by fostering its ability to flourish and be generative – creates a virtuous cycle that leads to high-quality outcomes for both current and future generations. Numerous studies highlight the importance of strengthening parenting skills and promoting stable and balanced family relationships to enhance young people's positive development and increase their likelihood of becoming competent and engaged citizens.
FamILens in detail
In essence, the FamILens identifies the following predictive factors of family well-being:
- Families must feel recognized for their essential role within the society.
- Families are capable of navigating critical moments that threaten their hard-earned stability.
- Families possess the necessary skills to effectively manage daily challenges.
- Families should feel acknowledged in their uniqueness.
- Families should have a say in the decisions that concern them.
- Families should live in a supportive relational environment, where hardships can be shared and socialized.
The FamILens Six Principles
1. Family Responsibility
Policies, services, and interventions should aim to support and empower families in fulfilling their roles within the society, including procreation, childcare, education, mutual assistance (particularly for vulnerable members), and economic support. Replacing families in their specific roles should only be considered as a last resort. Furthermore, any obstacles to fulfilling these roles should be removed. However, support should never be seen as a delegation of responsibilities to families. Instead, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, families should be equipped with the necessary resources to effectively fulfill their social functions and contribute to the common good. Moreover, mutual responsibility among family members should be encouraged, promoting an equitable distribution of tasks to prevent excessive burdens on women and reduce the gender gap.
2. Family Stability
Policies, services, and interventions should promote and reinforce commitment and stability in couple, marital, parental, and family relationships, particularly when children are involved and during critical life events – whether normative (birth, adoption) or non-normative (separation/divorce, illness, death, job loss) – which can destabilize family equilibrium and weaken relational bonds.
3. Family Relationships
Policies, services, and interventions should recognize the strength and persistence of family bonds, both positive and negative, and work to promote and sustain solid couple, marital, parental, and intergenerational relationships. Strong family and intergenerational ties – when accompanied by adequate knowledge, communication skills, conflict resolution strategies, and problem-solving abilities – help shape and reconcile mutual expectations among family members – including those related to their roles outside the family. This, in turn, promotes collective well-being that benefits both families and the community at large.
4. Family Diversity
Policies, services, and interventions should aim to reduce social inequalities and provide tailored solutions that consider cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, economic conditions, family structures, geographic contexts, special needs, and the family’s life stage. Standardized solutions may have different effects (or even unintended negative consequences) for different types of families, potentially increasing inequalities.
5. Family Engagement
Families should be actively involved in policy design and implementation, with family representatives included in decision-making processes at national and local levels. Collaboration between practitioners and families should be encouraged through relational and participatory practices, enabling families to contribute their experiential knowledge to identify solutions consistent with their cultural backgrounds, family structures, and expectations. It should be recognized that interventions leveraging family resources tend to be more effective and that policies co-designed with families are more likely to meet their expectations.
6. Promotion of Family Networks
Policies, services, and interventions should acknowledge the importance of social support networks in preventing isolation, fostering a sense of belonging, and enhancing resilience and agency. Therefore, both informal and formal family networks, such as family associations, should be promoted in all contexts.
The FamILens model was developed in response to the lack of concrete actions translating family support and family impact assessment into policy and practice. There is an urgent need for a cultural shift in policymaking and intervention strategies, moving beyond rhetoric towards a systematic approach to family impact analysis.
To achieve this goal, international research was conducted, identifying the Family Impact Lens – developed by the Family Impact Institute at Purdue University (IN, USA) – as the most widely recognized and well-established model in policymaking and academic literature. This model synthesizes decades of research into a set of five principles guiding policymakers and practitioners in their decision-making processes:
- Family Responsibility
- Family Stability
- Family Relationships
- Family Diversity
- Family Engagement
Building on Italian research since 2018, the 2023 adaptation of FamILens refined these principles to better align with Italy’s welfare system, adding a sixth principle.
In 2019, the Family Impact Team was established within Family Studies and Research University Centre (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), with the goal of conducting research and action-research applying a model tailored to the Italian context.
The FamILens model is closely related to the Family Impact Lens, which originated from more than two decades of research in the U.S. and evolved through multiple versions (1988, 2000, and 2012).
Since 2018, research efforts have led to integrating the FamILens within a community welfare framework, thus creating a new model called FamILens.COM. This model evaluates how well a welfare system aligns with community welfare ideals, where family and community well-being are closely interconnected.
The FamILens.COM is structured around four principles:
- Plural Welfare Model: Policies and services should be designed and implemented by diverse stakeholders through formalized partnerships or multidisciplinary teams.
- Subsidiary Welfare Model: Policies and services should empower beneficiaries, leveraging family-based, family-centered, and whole-family approaches.
- Participatory Welfare Model: Policies and services should incorporate co-design, co-production, and co-evaluation strategies, engaging all stakeholders and final beneficiaries (families).
- Think Family Model: Policies and services should prioritize family relationships, adhering to the FamILens principles.
