This research proposes to assess the level of satisfaction of families from a county in northern Portugal, in view of the support provided by Local Intervention Teams, (LIT), within the scope of Early Intervention in Childhood (EIC), so as to ensure quality practices that best fit the needs of children and their families in various situation of development risk. The EIC is supported by multidisciplinary services provided to children under five years of age. "Its main objectives are: to promote the health and well-being of the child; foster the emergence of skills; minimize developmental delays, remedy existing or emerging disabilities, prevent functional deterioration; promote parental adjustment and the overall functioning of the family "(Meisels and Shonkoff, 2000, quoted by Soriano, 2005, p.16). The scientific production on the IPI argues that family-centered precocious intervention/early childhood intervention had its origin in the transactional model of Sameroff and Chandler (1975) and the perspectives of Brofenbrenner (1979) on the ecological and social systems (Pereira 2009, Serrano 2007). According to Tegethof (2007), a family-centered practice goes beyond the concept of "parental involvement" as it does not merely inform and educate the family to work with their children, but presupposes including them in decision making processes. The overall objective of this study relates to the need to assess the degree of satisfaction of families, who are supported under the EIC, in a county of the northern area of the country, by a Local Intervention Team (LIT).The aim is to find out to what extent the intervention is perceived as family-centered (among different dimensions to be evaluated: parental support, child support, social environment; relationship between parents and professionals; support model; parental rights; service location and connection, structure and administration of the service) and which areas of the service show major and minor weaknesses, so as to improve practices promoted by professionals.

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