Background  This study describes the development and trialling of the Family Life Interview (FLI), a clinical tool designed to examine sustainability of family routines.

Materials and Methods  The FLI, a self-report instrument completed by a parent within a semi-structured practitioner – parent interview, was administered to 118 parents, with re-test interviews being conducted with 39 parents. Rasch analysis was used to examine scale structure, evidence for construct validity and precision of measurement of the FLI items. Logistic regression was used to explore the contribution of the FLI to predicting out-of-home placement scores.

Results  The FLI produced valid data on the sustainability of family routines. The FLI was found to be useful for predicting families at risk of seeking out-of-home placement driven by crisis.

Conclusions  The FLI offers practitioners a psychometrically sound instrument designed to illuminate the particularity of each family’s circumstances, critical to developing interventions for increasing the sustainability of family routines.