Currently, Family Group Conference services and benefits are not widely or easily accessible to families and/or communities, unless subject to support from children’s social services and at the edge of care. At Daybreak, we passionately believe in the benefits of this approach and that they can be offered routinely to more families experiencing a wider range of challenges and in circumstances that need less intensive intervention, but early help. This sits as central to our ongoing strategic aims; to widen the access to Family Group Conferences, and to evidence their impact in a variety of arenas.

Family Group Conferences aim to bring a person’s support network together to enable them to proactively develop a safe and sustainable plan of action in response to a challenging situation and a concern over a person’s wellbeing. This tool in family cohesion and problem-solving has been successfully implemented worldwide, and predominately utilised within the children’s welfare sector for those at the edge of care – although it is not exclusive to this specific area.

The main principles of this approach rely on being voluntary, family-led, and in amplifying the voice of the person(s) at the centre of the issue. The process involves aligning and agreeing on the ongoing situation, its risks, and the needs around resolution, engaging with a person’s wider support network, and bringing them together. During the Family Group Conference itself, the support network can discuss, engage, and importantly, listen to each other and devise a safe, sustainable and secure plan that is approved, where appropriate, by the professionals working alongside the family. A plan is created, and a person responsible for monitoring its progress is nominated. Often, a review meeting is held to reengage the network and address any concerns. The entire process can take approximately 6-8 weeks, involving 25-30 hours work from an Independent Coordinator, and often involves an Advocate to support those who need it. What is special about a Family Group Conference is that the plan is made by the family, not the professionals. They therefore ‘own’ it and have much greater commitment to it.

We are appealing for funding to enable the Family Group Conferences services to be accessible via either partner-referral or self-referral, via our Moving Forward Together project which seeks to create funding so that they can be utilised within the community and outside of the restrictions of Children’s Social Services/Local Authority contracting.

Through the Moving Forward Together project we are also aiming to assess the usability and impact of Family Group Conferencing within a range of different focus areas. By creating an accessible route to the support and impact of Family Group Conference, we will be better placed to evidence their role in different areas, fields and specialisms. As a result of this, we will be able to formulate rationale for sustainable funding sources to grow impact and access.

Your help can bring us closer to that vision.

#MovingForwardTogether