As discussed above, family supports and services comprise a wide range of human services programming and assistance; making sense of where to go for help can be complicated and confusing. Programs are often located in separate offices, `necessitating time off from work and long bus rides to keep multiple appointments. ^[1]   Family needs are not consistently identified, and services are not always provided in a timely or flexible way. Application forms are often lengthy and duplicative, and explanations of program rules may be confusing, rote, and incomplete. Program requirements can pile on, overwhelming families in crisis and curtailing their ability to obtain needed services. Human service agencies can take a number of steps to make needed services more accessible to low-income families. First, agencies should increase the physical accessibility to their programs by locating satellite offices in high-poverty communities; co-locating programs in a single location (such as a joint One-Stop Career Center and welfare office); stationing intake workers in convenient locations (including community centers, public housing offices, public health clinics, hospitals, or parole offices); increasing telephone access to caseworkers; and covering transportation costs.

Second, agencies should simplify intake, by streamlining paperwork requirements, reducing required office visits, using one intake worker to screen and collect information for multiple programs, improving information exchange between program computer systems, and decreasing waiting periods. Family services administrators and other policymakers should implement the "no wrong door" approach, so that families that access any one supportive service can be connected to the full range of services that they need.

Third, they can facilitate access to a range of programs inside and outside of the health and human services system by developing stronger information, referral, and outreach procedures. Agencies should maintain up-to-date contact information for relevant programs, and develop some basic familiarity with the services offered by other programs. When families receive more specific information, they are more likely to follow up on a referral to additional services. To the extent practical, referrals to priority services should be "active," meaning that a case worker facilitates the referral by directly contacting the appropriate agency. ^[2]