The Family Support Project in Lansing, Michigan, provides a variety of family support services to help maintain severely mentally and severely multiply impaired children in their own communities, and whenever possible, in their own homes. Services offered include case management, family therapy, respite services, special needs purchases, administration, program evaluation, and a parent task force serving in an advisory capacity to project staff. Among results from 9 months of operation are that efforts to outreach families with children residing in state institutions were hindered by confidentiality and release of information regulations; that the most highly used services were those of local schools; and that three basic need areas expressed by families were parent to parent support as early as possible, specialized training opportunities for family and staff who care for children, and additional short and long term community residential alternatives. Other findings related to project goals are that: the proportion of families maintaining their children in the community or in their own homes was not increased; eligible families received a number of support services not previously available to them; and the levels of intervention and assistance to individual families were not reduced. Among recommendations were that an official emergency respite service system be established as part of an agency wide on-call system in response to participant needs for special assistance on a 24 hour basis. Appended are an outline on national family programs and services, a table comparing family subsidy/support programs in selected states, a fee schedule, a list of special needs purchases, a copy of the "Quality of Life Questionnaire" administered to families, a satisfaction questionnaire, and a summary of previous project issues. (SW)