This article, which introduces the second thematic issue of the journal Service social on family diversity, looks at support and assistance for families in situations of adversity. In a context where family solidarity has progressively given way to public solidarity, we are witnessing the State taking charge of vulnerable families, which is characterized by tensions between support and social control. Intervention with families, both social and judicial, is based on a neo-liberal reading of family problems, placing the responsibility for individual difficulties on the shoulders of parents or relatives, rather than on structural causes. The voice of the social actors directly concerned allows us to better understand their experience of the power dynamics that operate with the aid systems, as well as their needs in terms of support and services.