The Commission on Family Life was created by the General Assembly in 1978 to study the alternatives for providing a coordinated approach to dealing with the needs of families in Virginia. During its study, the Commission met with representatives of State human services agencies, considered data from the needs assessment of the Division for Children, kept informed about the State Conference on Families and evaluated a variety of State programs, local programs and individual service plans. The final product of the Commission's work was the development of a Family Policy and a family impact analysis procedure to assess the affect of governmental programs and policies on families in Virginia.