The Dundee project will be used as a model to tackle problems

The �2m windfall will run three projects across Scotland to help parents and children with problems work towards law-abiding lifestyles.

The two-year initiatives in South Lanarkshire, Falkirk, and Perth and Kinross will also make use of parenting orders and Asbos.

They will be based on the highly successful Dundee Families Project.

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson admitted there had been too much emphasis on supporting difficult families at the expense of communities in the past.

Problem families

The projects aim to break the cycle of offending by helping parents deal with the anti-social behaviour of their children.

But Ms Jamieson warned the move was not a soft option and that families would have to meet strict behaviour improvement targets.

Speaking on a visit to the Dundee project, which has earned an international reputation for its intensive work with problem families, she said: "A small number of families are responsible for most, and usually the most serious, anti-social behaviour in each community.

"Their behaviour has a disproportionate affect on the community in which they live.

"Dealing with their problems therefore helps not just those families - but the families who live next door, on the same stair, in the same street."

The projects will bring health, housing and social work professionals together to monitor the families taking part.

Intensive intervention

Carol, a single mother with three children, said the help she got from the Dundee project, run by children's charity NCH Scotland and the city council, saved her life.

"For the first time I felt somebody was interested in me and I almost handed over my life to them," she said.

"They encouraged me to attend groups at the project and they offered advice and support in dealing with children, school, housing and neighbours."

Andrew Girvan, director of children's services for NCH Scotland, said its methods had reduced the need for evictions and prevented children from being taken into care.