The accumulating evidence from the array of school-linked social service initiatives launched over the past decade provides a glimpse of the enduring obstacles and challenges to integrated services. The notable failure of two prominent foundation efforts indicates a critical crossroads for this public policy movement. This article explores the organizational and political constraints that threaten to undercut the school-linked services movement. The discussion focuses on the misguided messages that have helped slide the issue of children 's services to the center of the policy table on the naive and narrow assumption that integrated services will produce more economical and efficient systems for families. The concluding argument urges educators and policy makers to move beyond the erratic and irregular child-saving impulses that have marked earlier education and social services policies to efforts that understand the complexity of the lives of children and the economic foundation of their families.
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