Learning from Research: Family experiences of Family Group Conferences
Coram’s Impact and Evaluation team have been working with Family Rights Group and Lorna Stabler from Cardiff University to explore what barriers and enablers impact family access to Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in England. We spoke to professionals from six local authorities and their FGC services, as well as parents and carers who had been offered FGC in these six areas. We also conducted a national survey of FGC services to learn about their offering and the families using their service.
Family group conferencing (FGC) is a form of family group decision-making (FGDM) used in children’s social care. It involves a family-led meeting in which the family network (family members, friends and practitioners who know the family) come together to make a plan for a child where there is concern for their wellbeing or safety.
Foundations, who commissioned the research, will publish the final project report in October.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Even though most of the social workers we spoke to felt they had a very good understanding of FGC, there was evidence that many had gaps in their knowledge or were giving parents/carers information that was wrong. Some were also unaware that their FGC service offered leaflets and information in numerous formats that could be shared with families to help explain to them what FGC is. Therefore, even if you believe you are fully clued up on FGC and familiar with your FGC service, it is always worth refreshing your knowledge and asking your FGC service what materials and support they can offer to aid your discussions about FGC with families.
- A major concern for parents/carers can be around information being shared by professionals in the conference that is inaccurate or that they disagree with. This can often be mitigated by social workers working with the parents/carers to carefully word referrals and notes and share only what information is relevant to the concern around the child.
- We asked social workers about the impact they thought new legislation to mandate offering FDGM at the pre-proceedings might have (this legislation was published in Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive – Department for Education, 2024). Many were confused and thought this mandate would mean families would be forced to have FGCs. To be clear, the new mandate is not about making families have an FGC (or another form of FDGM) at pre-proceedings, it is just that councils will now have to offer families FDGM at pre-proceedings, which families can still say no to if they want. Part of our findings in the report will be that this needs to be clearly communicated to professionals.
PRESENTER
Elizabeth Raws, Research and Evaluation Officer, Coram's Impact & Evaluation
Elizabeth Raws has a background in Social Anthropology, and joined Coram’s Impact and Evaluation team as a Research and Evaluation Officer in October 2024. She has primarily worked on the Family Access to FGC project and a Systemic Practice pilot evaluation, as well as other research and evaluation projects. She has experience in research and evaluation projects with a diverse range of participants for government and third sector organisations.
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