ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017
A neutral third party, available because of you
Family Group Conferencing is a family-focused, strengths-based form of alternative dispute resolution. It brings families and professionals together to talk about concerns for children and young people, identify available supports, and decide on the best way forward. Participation by a family in Family Group Conferencing is voluntary. The process is confidential and facilitated by an impartial facilitator.
Lynne’ s case study
“ An important element of this process is to have a chat with the kids about their wishes and worries”
“ A family was referred to us by the Department of Family and Community Services( FACS) for Family Group Conferencing, as caseworkers had identified high extended-family conflict. Four siblings, aged five to 14, went into emergency placement with a great aunt( by marriage) about 15 months ago, when their mother passed away suddenly. At the time of her passing, the mother had separated from the fathers, and they were both in the care of corrections. The emergency placement broke down, and the siblings were residing in separate placements – the eldest chose to stay with his great aunt, while his three siblings lived with maternal aunts. However, the caregivers were not amicable, so, as a result, the children had limited access to each other. The non-negotiables for Family Group Conferencing were that the siblings be given every opportunity to see each other on a regular basis, and that the carers not be a barrier for contact. An important element of this process is to have a chat with the kids about their wishes and worries. With their permission, these were read to the family at the start of the conference. The model for Family Group Conferencing provides for private family time, however in this case, due to the high level of conflict, the family wanted a caseworker to stay in the room. The family was then provided with‘ guiding questions’ that were paraphrased from the elements of the non-negotiables. They really struggled to address the issue of the children being able to see each other in normal extended-family situations, even when they were able to identify barriers to this occurring, such as grief, guilt and grudges. However, thanks to the intervention of the children by identifying negatives they would like to see the carers stop( end the arguing and stop talking badly about each other) and positives they would like to see start( sleepovers, forgetting about the past), the family was able to proceed to a positive outcome.”
PAGE 31