The overarching purpose of the Family Services Research Center (FSRC), established in 1992, is to increase the effectiveness of the state and nation's mental health and substance abuse services for children, adolescents, and their families. The primary strategies used to further this purpose have been to conduct rigorous research on the development, validation, and dissemination of clinically effective and cost effective mental health and substance abuse services for youths presenting serious clinical problems and their families.

As such, FSRC projects have included numerous community-based randomized trials with challenging clinical populations (e.g., violent and chronic juvenile offenders, youths presenting psychiatric emergencies, substance abusing juvenile offenders, maltreating families), and dissemination studies for multisystemic therapy and other evidence-based treatments are being conducted in multiple states and nations. The FSRC has received the Annie E. Casey Families Count Award as well as the Points of Light Foundation President's Award in recognition of excellence in community service directed at solving community problems.