What is a Family Group Conference?
Every family is unique with its own culture, personalities and
history. All families come up against problems from time to time.
Some more difficult situations, involving children, can be sorted
out more easily with help from relatives and friends.
Some may also need help from the health services, schools social
services or other agencies. Family Group Conferences are a way of
giving families the chance to get together and try and make the
best plan possible for children. The decision-makers at a Family
Group Conference are the family members and not the
professionals.
It is here that family members get together with the child or young
person and family and friends to talk, make plans and decide how to
resolve the situation.
Our family, Our problems, Our decisions
From time to time all families have to face a wide range of
difficulties. Usually they manage to sort these difficulties
out for themselves. Sometimes though the problem is more
complicated or is harder to resolve.
Family Group Conferences provide the opportunity for family members
to get together to try to find either a solution or, if that’s not
possible, ways that can support the family and help them
cope.
Agency workers (social workers, teachers, health workers and so on)
who may already be involved, help the family by saying how they see
the problem. Often they are asked to help with the solution. But it
is the family and people they see as important who discuss the
problem. It’s the family that makes a plan. It’s the family that
makes decisions.