Family Group Conferencing in youth care: effectiveness and characteristics of the decision making model and implementation of the Family Group (FG) plans

Family Group Conferencing is regularly carried out in the Netherlands as a decision making procedure in youth care. Aim is to allow families to develop their own help plan, aiming to address the problems in such way that the family continues to be leading (instead of a professional worker), however, with the condition that the safety of the children in the families is guaranteed. At the end of a Family Group Conference, there has to be agreement between the family members, members of the broader social network, of the coordinator Family Group conferencing and family Manager of Bureau Youth Care on the carrying out of the help plans that have been developed during the family group conference.
Question is, however, whether the Family Group conferences and the FG plans that have been developed are effective in terms of 1) more safety for children in the families, 2) an increased commitment of the social network, 3) increased control of the family (empowerment), and less use of professional care. Most research shows positive results, based on pre-post test assessments. Those studies that did include a control group show negative or contradictory findings. The only Dutch study using a comparison group concludes that the reported positive results cannot be attributed to Family Group Conferencing with certainty. Evidence for the effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing in Dutch Youth Care is thus still lacking.
The present study aims to find out whether Family Group conferencing and the carrying out of the FG plans are effective. Goals are thus to find out whether Family Group Conferences and the carrying out of the FG plans indeed lead to: 1) sufficient safety of the children in the family; 2) increased commitment of the social network; 3) increased control of the family regarding family problems, empowerment of the parents; less professional care. A second aim is to examine whether the effectiveness of Family group conferencing is affected by characteristics of the method, characteristics of the Family Managers or characteristics of participating families.

We expect after FGC:

- increased child safety (in terms of less supervision orders; and less or shorter out of home placements)

- increased commitment of the broader social network of the family

- increased perceived control over problems/sense of empowerment by parent(s)

- less need for/use of professional help

- improved family functioning




Furthermore, we expect that:

program (implementation and role of family manager) as well as participant characteristics moderate the effectiveness of family group conferencing.

T1: pre-test

T2: post-test after 1 month (by telephone)

T3: post-test after 3 months (by telephone)

T4: post-test after 6 months (questionnaire)
T5: follow-up assessment after 12 months (questionnaire)

Family Group Conferencing and Generic Family Oriented Approach versus Generic Family Oriented Approach only