Family Star™
One of several Outcomes Stars for parents

Triangle have developed four variants of the Outcomes Star for parents – the Family Star, Family Star Plus, Family Star (Early Years) and Family Star (Relationships).

They are widely used to support parents and their families by local authorities and voluntary sector services across the UK. Where any version of the Family Stars are used with a family, My Star can also be used to capture the voice of the child, their needs, their perspective on the changes they are experiencing, and to check that the changes made by parents are enabling their children to thrive. For example, in the pilot there was strong feedback that My Star helped to ‘bring the child into the room’ in multi-agency discussions.

This page includes brief guidance on which version is best for your service (see Resources on the right hand side of this page) but please contact us and we can provide you with more advice.

NEW Family Star™ Plus

Copyright: Triangle Consulting Social Enterprise Limited

The Family Star Plus is an improved variant of the Family Star and is designed to support effective parenting.  The new and improved 2nd Edition was published in 2023.

The Family Star Plus has two additional scales to give greater focus on the parent themselves as well as their parenting abilities. It is in part a direct response to the UK Government’s Troubled Families initiative, and provides evidence within the key Phase 1 areas of employability, anti-social behaviour and school attendance.

Family Star Plus was originally developed with Leicestershire County Council. In addition Triangle would like to thank Camden Council Children’s Schools and Families (CSF) Directorate, and Family Action, Hampshire local authority parenting services and the collective of Camden family services and consultant-parents, for making the original Family Star possible.

The Family Star Plus covers ten areas of parenting essential to enabling children to thrive and in line with the UK Government’s Troubled Families initiative:

1. My children’s health
2. How I feel
3. My children’s emotions
4. Keeping my children safe
5. Friends and community
6. My children’s learning
7. My children’s behaviour
8. Our family routine
9. Home and money
10. Work.

Full resources are available for organisations with a Star Licence and training for all workers and managers using the Star. Find out more about the new editions here.

Family Star (Early Years)™

Copyright: Triangle Consulting Social Enterprise Limited

The Family Star (Early Years) is specifically designed for use with young children (0 to 5 years) and in lighter-touch interventions (ie often called Level 2 in a continuum of needs).  It is a variant of the Family Star

Ideally suited for Children’s Centres, it has fewer and shorter scales for ease of use, as well as a specific scale for early years – Child Development.

It was developed by Triangle with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Early Help and Children’s Centres Services. In addition Triangle would also like to thank Camden Council Children’s Schools and Families (CSF) Directorate, and to Family Action, Hampshire local authority parenting services and the collective of Camden family services and consultant-parents, for making the original Family Star possible.

The Family Star (Early Years) covers seven outcome areas:

1. Physical health
2. Emotional wellbeing
3. Keeping your children safe
4. Social networks
5. Boundaries and routines
6. Child development
7. Home, money and work

Full resources are available for organisations with a Star Licence and training for all workers and managers using the Star.   See free previews here.

Family Star (Relationships)™

Copyright: Triangle Consulting Social Enterprise Limited

Family Star (Relationships) is a new variant focused on protecting children from conflict between parents

It has been specifically designed for services focusing on resolving conflict between parents (inter-parental conflict).  This can include mediation and counselling services but only where there is a focus on the well-being of the children and the role of effective parenting.  Although it is more focused it is in itself a holistic tool.  This means it should only be used instead of another Family Star, not as well as.

The Family Star (Relationships) was developed by Triangle with Essex County Council and Hertfordshire County Council as part of their Local Family Offer work around parental conflict, funded by the Department of Work and Pensions.

The Family Star (Relationships) covers eight areas of parenting essential to enabling children to thrive:

1. Practical arrangements
2. Routines and stability
3. Money
4. Meeting emotional needs
5. Boundaries and behaviour
6. Relationship skills
7. Managing strong feelings
8. Your well-being

Full resources are available for organisations with a Star Licence and training for all workers and managers using the Star.  See free previews here.

Family Star™

Copyright: Triangle Consulting Social Enterprise Limited

The Family Star was the first Star for families to be created by Triangle, and was recently revised, in 2023 to be more client-focused, friendly, accessible and trauma-informed, as well as to expand the resources to include easy-read flashcards, reference external factors such as the cost of living and map to the Supporting Families Initiative 2022-25.

For services in Scotland, specific guidance is available for the Family Star which supports you to use it in the context of the GIRFEC framework and SHANARRI well-being indicators.

The Family Star was originally developed by Triangle with Camden Council CSF and Camden service providers including Hopscotch, Coram, Elfrida Rathbone, Families In Focus, Agar Grove Children’s Centre and the YOS, plus Family Action and additional piloting and feedback from Hampshire Family Services.

The Family Star covers eight areas of parenting essential to enabling children to thrive:

1. My children’s health
2. Emotional well-being
3. Keeping my children safe
4. Friends and community
5. My children’s learning
6. My children’s behaviour
7. Our family routine
8. Home and money.

Full resources are available for organisations with a Star Licence and training for all workers and managers using the Star.  See free previews here.

Family Stars in other languages

We are working on and welcome enquiries regarding using any of the Family Stars internationally and in other languages.  Currently we have resources available in

• Romanian (a short version of Family Star Plus)
• Czech (Family Star Plus)
• French (resources from the Family Star, Family Star Plus)
• Welsh (resources from Family Star, Family Star Plus and Family Star Early Years)

Please contact us for more information on translations and using the Star in another language.

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