The main objectives of this project are to re-construct patterns associated to success and failure in social intervention schemes, compare them and identify the critical factors that determine success or failure. To achieve these goals, cases of social intervention will be re-constructed by interviewing all those involved in each case (namely, professionals, family members, members of informal network). The re-construction will comprise the following steps: i) identify 30 successful and 30 unsuccessful cases; ii) develop interview strategies; iii) rebuild the story of the intervention. It is expected that this project will identify mechanisms that will lead to the establishment of more effective ways of addressing chronically unsuccessful relationships between highly vulnerable families and larger social systems.