Family Group Conference is a family-led planning meeting to address identified concern.
Sometimes difficult situations can be more easily managed with the help from relatives and friends when they are made aware of the issues. A Family Group Conference is a good way of achieving this.
What situations can the family meeting help with?
- Where there are short or long term decisions to be made about the care and welfare of a child or young person
- Supporting a parent with mental or physical ill health issues
- Support for ‘parents to be’ or those struggling with meeting their children’s needs
- Helping relatives to identify care for children or young people
- Ensuring that children whose parents are seriously ill continue to be cared for
- Involving the wider family to support children who have significant needs
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What happens at a Family Meeting?
During the meeting family and friends have private time to draw up a family plan. The family are the decision makers in a family meeting and any plan produced by them to address the concerns raised in respect of the child/ young person should be accepted and resourced unless it places the child/young person at risk.
The meeting is organised and led by an independent coordinator who has been trained for the role.
View our family meeting services booklet in the resources section for more information on the service.