Family Group Conferences - The Key Elements
- The term 'family' in the context of Family Group
Conferences refers to both blood relatives and non-related
significant adults such as family friends or
neighbours.
- The role of the Co-ordinator is vital in negotiating attendance
at a Family Group Conference and in informing all participants
about the process involved. This role should be separate from other
professionals' involvement with the family.
- Professionals should facilitate family member attendance at a
Family Group Conference through financial and practical assistance
with travel, the choice of the venue, the availability of
interpreters etc.
- A child/young person, if they want to attend, should be helped
to identify a supporter, preferably from within their own
network.
- The role of the professional is to share their information and
knowledge with the family. It is not to present a plan and seek
agreement to this. The family must be the primary planning
group.
- The family must always have private decision making and
planning time - unless they otherwise request a particular
professional to be present.
- Family Group Conferences can be used in all areas of family and
childcare practice. Their use is not confined to a particular type
of referral such as family support or child protection.
- The family's plan should be agreed and resources negotiated by
the various agencies and professionals unless the plan is thought
to place the child at risk or significant harm. In such a situation
the onus is on the professionals to explain how, and of what, the
child would be at risk.
- The Co-ordinator has a duty to identify and address issues of
race, gender and culture and to respond positively to any
particular needs a family may identify. The Family Group Conference
will be held in the first language of the family.
- There should be a presumption that all family members will be
invited to a Family Group Conference. It is recognised that in
certain exceptional situations it may be necessary to exclude a
family member from the Family Group Conference. Should this be the
case, their input to the meetings should be achieved in alternative
ways, for example through letters or tape recordings. The grounds
for exclusion should be clear and should be put in writing to the
particular family member. The decision to exclude a family member
rests with the Co-ordinator.
- There should be an effective process for identifying those
situations where a Family Group Conference is appropriate. The use
of a Family Group Conference should not create a more intrusive
involvement by the various agencies. The model can be used, in
principle, whenever there is a need to plan to meet the needs of
the child.
- Once a plan is agreed, the family should also decide how to
monitor and review the plan, and what contingency plans are needed
if the original plan is
unsuccessful.
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| Kent FGCS - families making
decisions |
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