2.2.6 Family Group Conferences

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

No child in Lambeth can become looked after, except in an emergency, in advance of a Family Group Conference taking place. This applies to children who become looked after under s20.

As a priority, there is an expectation that parents/guardians agreeing for any child aged 12-15 years to be accommodated under s.20 must agree to cooperate with a family group conference with a view to addressing issues of concern to enable the young person to return home or to their family network when it is safe and appropriate for that to happen. At the point of giving s.20 agreement, Social Workers must provide parents/guardians with information about Family Group Conferences and a letter outlining the Local Authority's expectation. Evidence of a submitted referral for a family group conference should accompany relevant accommodation documentation.

The only exceptions are children who become looked after under Police Powers of Protection or under an Emergency Protection Order, children who become looked after under s31 or as a result of a remand to secure accommodation or local authority accommodation in criminal proceedings.

AMENDMENTS

The information in the scope box of this chapter and the Family Group Letter was added to this chapter in October 2011.

1. Origin and Purpose

The use of FGCs in the UK followed their introduction in New Zealand in 1989 where new law reflected a belief (itself rooted in Maori tradition) that 'given the resources, the information and the power, a family group will make safe and appropriate decisions for children. The role of professionals such as Social Workers and Doctors should not be to make decisions but to facilitate decision making by providing information, resources and expertise that will assist the family group. Professionals will have a crucial role as resources people' (Department of Social Welfare New Zealand 1989).

FGCs are a way of making decisions about children that keeps or returns the responsibility to the family, with the support of professional's expertise and resources as necessary. FGCs are suitable where the family will have the opportunity to make significant decisions about a plan, not just 'rubber stamp' existing professional plans.

By holding a FGC, Lambeth is agreeing to support the family's plan unless it places the child at increased risk. The earlier in the planning and decision making process the extended family can be involved, the better.

2. Application of FGCs

At the time of issuing these procedures, Lambeth has agreed more extensive use of FGCs.

It is intended to offer families the chance to make plans for their children through a FGC whenever a significant decision has to be made.

FGCs must be offered unless there are clear reasons not to upon:

Completion of an Initial Assessment;
Completion of a Core Assessment;
A decision that a child cannot return to her/his previous carers and that permanency arrangements are required;
Registration of a child on the child protection register (the FGC will be invited to produce a plan that provides protection and enables or moves towards de-registration);
A decision to initiate care proceedings;
Identification of a need to implement key components within looked after children Care Plans.

Lambeth's Priority Groups

Lambeth's priority groups for the use of FGCs are children:

At risk of being or who have just been accommodated;
Where the need for a permanent placement has been decided and a plan needs to be made to achieve one.

Consequently, FGCs must be considered:

Where there has been a request for accommodation, either to look for an alternative or to use accommodation as part of a long term plan;
Where an EPO has just been obtained, either to plan for longer term placement or to look for a temporary placement pending finalising long term plans.

FGCs might also be useful to determine long-term placement e.g.:

During care proceedings as a means of informing the s31 Care Plan to be presented to the Court;
Where a decision has been made that a child subject to a Care Order needs a permanent placement;
Where a long term placement outside the family has been sought for some time without success.

FGCs can be especially helpful in situations where:

The Social Worker is in contact only with a small proportion of the family and may lack and/or be unable to obtain details on the rest;
The Social Worker or other professionals feel they are undertaking all the work;
The family or significant elements of it e.g. the father have been difficult to engage;
There are disagreements within the family about plans for the child;
There are disagreements between family and professionals;
Major decisions have been made in the past without family involvement.

The core elements which make an effective FGC more likely are:

A wide view of 'family' and an inclusive approach;
Independent co-ordination (by someone who effectively addresses issues of race, gender, culture, language and any disability);
Clarity of role of involved professionals;
Facilitation by a professional of family member attendance;
Child / young person attends and advocate offered who is also able to represent the views of the child/young person;
The child/young person has the choice of who they would like to support/represent them at the conference;
Opportunity for private discussion and decision making;
Resources negotiated and agreed;
Process for agreeing, implementing, monitoring and reviewing plans clear;
Family clear about consequence of no or an unsafe plan.

The role of the family is to:

Attend the FGC;
Develop a plan;
Write up the plan;
Implement the plan; and
Monitor its impact.

The role of the co-ordinator is to:

Identify and explore the wider family network;
Convene the FGC;
Talk to the child or young person and identify her/his wishes and discuss how these will be presented to the meeting - arranging an advocate or support person from within or outside the family as appropriate;
Encourage and support attendance at the meeting;
Chair the information giving stage;
Help clarify the plan;
Enable the family to feed back its plan;
Ask family members if they want to review the plan at a review FGC and agree a date for this.

The role of the Social Worker is to:

Discuss and offer an FGC to the family;
Make a referral;
Undertake any necessary assessments;
Prepare the family;
Offer information about concerns and potential resources;
Prepare a brief report;
Consider the family's proposed plan and monitoring and reviewing arrangements;
Support the family's implementation, monitoring and reviewing of the plan;
Deliver services as agreed and implement Children's Social Care part of the plan.

The role of other professionals is to:

Carry out any necessary assessments;
Provide information about need and about services;
Implement their part of the plan;
Participate in monitoring and reviewing implementation.

The role of managers is to:

Agree and support the referral for an FGC;
Assist the referrer formulate a clear agenda;
Ensure that referring Social Worker is clear about potential resources;
Agree the plan; and
Ensure sufficient accountability in implementation, monitoring and review of plan.

The FGC can then, be modelled as follows:

Stage 1: Referral - The need for a plan is agreed. The referral is made by the Social Worker, identifying the issues to be addressed. An appropriate an acceptable coordinator is appointed;
Stage 2: Setting the Agenda - The Social Worker formulates the question to be presented to the conference and identifies what is possible and what is not i.e. making clear what the Department's bottom line is for ensuring the safety and welfare of the child;
Stage 3: Preparation - Co-ordinator in consultation with child and immediate carers identifies family network, agrees venue, date / time, issues invitations and prepares participants);
Stage 4: Information Giving - At the start of the meeting the Co-ordinator chairs the information sharing. Professionals explain their roles, responsibilities, any concerns and local resources. The family can seek clarification. There will be a break for refreshments before the family have private planning time;
Stage 5: Private Family Time - Professionals withdraw and the family work out a plan, a contingency position, specify required resources and monitoring and review arrangements
Stage 6: Agreeing, Monitoring and Reviewing Plan -The Co-ordinator and professionals re-join the family and the plan is clarified. Resources are negotiated if possible within the meeting and the plan agreed unless it places the child at risk of significant harm.

In Lambeth , a Social Worker who is responsible for any situation that meets the criteria outlined in Section 2, Application of FGCs should discuss it with her/his supervisor and obtain agreement.

The next step is to give the immediate family (relatives caring for the child and holding parental responsibility) a copy of the Department's leaflet about FGCs.

The Social Worker should explain that the family is being offered an opportunity to make decisions and plans through a FGC.

Someone with parental responsibility needs to agree that a FGC be held and where s/he has sufficient understanding, the child or young person must also be give a leaflet and consulted.

The immediate family must be asked if they have preferences about the ethnicity, culture, religion or gender of the co-ordinator who will organise the FGC. Unless the family indicates otherwise, the Project Manager will try to ensure as close as possible a match between the family and the co-ordinator.

If the agreement is refused, it is possible in certain circumstances to proceed e.g. cases in which the Department also holds parental responsibility through a Care Order, or where there is a clear need to make plans for the child and the child's interests would be served by involving the extended family.

The FGC Project Manager must be contacted to discuss such situations and it may also be appropriate to take legal advice.

3. Referrals

The FGC Project Manager will, on request, supply a referral form.

This form must be completed and e-mailed back to the Project Manager who will arrange a referral meeting to clarify:

The Department's concerns;
Questions that the FGC would need to address;
Any 'baseline' e.g. any outcomes that would be unacceptable because they would place the child at risk;
Involvement of other agencies;
Timing of the FGC;
Consideration of the kind of resources the family should be given information about;
Whether there is any known history of abuse by family members towards staff.

The FGC Project Manager will then arrange for an independent co-ordinator to work with the family, Social Worker and other relevant agencies in arranging the FGC (the co-ordinator may be from a pool of co-ordinators specifically employed by the Department for this purpose or may be from an external provider).

Social Work Report for FGC

Social Workers will need to prepare a brief report (no more than 1 side) for presentation at the FGC. The use of professional jargon should be avoided and the information should be provided in as clear and specific a way as possible.

The headings for what can be a simple bullet point report should be:

Name of child or young person;
Reason for Children's Social Care involvement;
Current concerns;
Outcomes which would be unacceptable because they would place (name of child or young person) at risk;
Strengths of the family;
Resources available to the family.

Resources

An important task for the referring Social Worker is to give the family information about the resources that are available to them to use in making their plan.

This task is often not taken seriously enough and a key point is that that the Social Worker should not list resources which are suitable for only one type of outcome or plan. Information about resources from a range of agencies should be given.

Where the child or young person needs permanency and that is amongst the issues to be resolved by the FGC, the resources listed must include those appropriate to care within the family network and also those involving stranger care.

It is thus relevant to talk about Residence or Special Guardianship Orders, adoption within the family, kinship foster care but also stranger adoption and fostering and where relevant residential care.

The available financial support for family network placements must also be listed. As much detail as possible should be given, although it is recognised that full details may often not be immediately available. Where family network placements will be subject to assessments, this should be stated.

Other support for family network carers - e.g. social work, counselling, specialist agency support and consultation should be mentioned.

Where the family may be considering how to support the child's immediate carers, information about services from the Department and other agencies, including private and voluntary agencies should be provided. E.g. there is a wide range of non-statutory services for parents, people with drug and alcohol dependencies and other problems and it is helpful if these can be indicated.

Request for Accommodation

In all situations the FGC should be held where the family is requesting accommodation for the child but the Department has refused this.

If it is the Department's view that looking after the child or young person would place her/him at greater or equal risk to the current situation this must be made clear. If it remains the family's wish and is put into its plan, it is important that the reasons are listened to carefully and it may be appropriate to consult with senior staff and ask them to re-consider the Department's decision.

The role of the LAC Panel as the forum for authorising the use of accommodation for children must be made clear to the family.

Social Work Role Prior to FGC

Prior to the FGC, apart from offering the FGC to the family and making the referral as outlined above, the task of Social Worker is to complete any necessary assessment and based on this, to inform the immediate family of concerns and of any 'baseline'.

It is helpful if the report can be prepared immediately after the referral meeting (which will in itself clarify it) so that the independent co-ordinator can show it to the extended family.

The Social Worker must give the report to the immediate family.

The co-ordinator must be informed of any significant developments that affect the information going to the family.

The Social Worker must continue to provide services to the family whilst the FGC is being co-ordinated.

The Social Worker and manager must decide before the FGC who will present information, answer questions, respond to the family's plan and agree resources.

Social Work Role at FGC

At the FGC the social work role is to:

Present information about concerns, resources and any baseline;
Answer questions about the above;
Respond to the family's plan giving reasons if it is not acceptable; and
Agree resources (the Social Worker's supervisor or manager must be present or contactable).

Social Work Role Following FGC

Following the FGC, the role is to ensure delivery of the agreed plan and to participate in a review if the family ask for one.

Rights of the Family

FGCs are a way of empowering a family to take decisions about their children, subject to provisions for baselines about a child's safety. It follows that the family have certain rights in the process.

Once a FGC has been offered to a family and they have agreed it must not be cancelled or withdrawn by the Department.

Similarly, if a family wants to review the plan made at an FGC, the Social Worker should agree to this and attend and give any necessary information.

The timing of an FGC will be agreed by the co-ordinator with the immediate family and the Social Worker. To enable the attendance of family members it can sometimes be appropriate to hold FGCs in the evenings or at weekends. Time off in recognition of attendance should be negotiated with the Team Manager.