TV Reviews : Moyers Looks at Families in Crisis

“Moyers: Families First” (airing tonight at 7 on KVCR Channel 24 and at 9 on KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15) finds the venerable conscience of the airwaves taking a look at a nationwide effort to keep troubled families together through an approach known as “family preservation services.”

Like most Moyers efforts, “Families” focuses on the particular to illuminate the general, in this case using the stories of four families to raise issues that range from the socioeconomic to the political.

Ironically, Moyers and producer-director Gail Pellett do such a good job of making their points in the first segments that--despite “Families’ ” overall quality and compelling human stories--viewers may tune out well before the end of this slow, 90-minute show.

Other viewers may react with distaste and switch channels when they realize that three of the four families showcased have histories of drug and alcohol abuse. They will miss one of the central facts of the show: that family preservation services can work, even on some of the toughest cases.

In short, family preservation service seeks to prevent the unnecessary transfer of children from their homes to the foster care system, a massive bureaucracy that cost an estimated $9 billion last year. This is accomplished by a relatively inexpensive four- to six-week, around-the-clock, intensive intervention by a caseworker who acts as teacher, therapist, advocate and guide, providing practical solutions to family problems.

As Moyers notes, family preservation services are not a panacea, but they do offer a cost-effective alternative that in some cases can turn crisis into opportunity.