Referral
The process starts by a family being referred to a family group conference service. The person who makes the referral is the ‘referrer’. They will usually know and be working with the child or family. This could be a social worker, teacher or health visitor for example.
Family Group Conference Co-ordinator’s role
The Family Group Conference co-ordinator’s role is to help families plan in advance for and organise their family group conference.
By the end of the Family Group Conference, the family will have created a plan, which we call the ‘family plan’. Essentially this is a list of helpful tasks, which everyone who attends the Family Group Conference will have agreed together, as being necessary for them to work collectively as their own support system, in order to improve the situation for the child/ren in question.
The Family Group Conference co-ordinator will help families to think about who they would like to attend their conference, what would be helpful to include in their family plan and to think about what decisions need to be made for the best interest of the child/ren in question.
It should be noted that professionals are not usually invited to Family Group Conferences, because this process is exclusive to families and their communities. The family plan is shared with the referrer and the child’s social worker (if they have one). This helps to make sure that everyone is aware of what each other is doing, to help the child/ren to improve their situation.
What happens on the day of a Family Group Conference
Step one: information sharing
The person who made the referral for a Family Group Conference will share information about why the conference has been organised. Once the referrer has set out their information, the family can take time to ask questions to the referrer.
Step two: private family time
Once the family has all the information they need to help them to make a family plan, the conference can then move to step two, Private Family Time. During this private family time the referrer and the Family Group Conference co-ordinator leave the room. The child or vulnerable adult’s advocate (or supporter) may remain with the child if the family agrees.
During this time, the family work together to create a plan of tasks which they feel would be most helpful to the child/ren in question, if they were to complete each task every day, every week or every month.
Step three: agreeing the family plan
The Family Group Conference co-ordinator and the referrer then return to the room with the family and friends. The family are then asked to explain their plan and what they have agreed together. The referrer is then asked whether they agree to the plan. They should agree to the plan if it is legal and safe for the child/ren.
Step four: Putting the family plan into action
All of the family and friends who attended the Family Group Conference will spend the next three to four months completing each part of the family plan they agreed to be responsible for. If there are any problems or challenges with putting the family plan into action, this will need to be shared with one another immediately, so the plan can be changed if needed.
Step five: Checking if the family plan is working
The Family Group Conference co-ordinator asks the family if they would like a review conference to take place. At the review family group conference, family, friends and the referrer come back together to look at the family plan. The aim of this review conference is to discuss if the family plan is working well, if there are any parts of the plan which have not worked well and if there are any parts which might need to be changed to make the plan work better.