Research Review: Family group decision-making: a promising practice in need of more programme theory and research

The use of family group decision‐making (FGDM) in child protection is rapidly increasing throughout the world. This paper provides a brief overview of the research evidence from 1996 to 2005 and proposes future directions for both practice and research. The purpose of the review is to help move the discussion of FGDM from a promising practice to an evidence‐based practice. The research review considers what is known about the child welfare outcomes of FGDM. The paper then turns to research concerning which families are offered FGDM and which FGDM processes appear to be important. The paper concludes with specific suggestions for developing FGDM programmes that can improve child protection practice and then testing these specific programmes in rigorous trials.     

Parental participation in child protection case conferences

Child protection case conferences (CPCCs) are a fundamental part of child protection processes within the United Kingdom. They provide a mechanism for professionals and families to share information, enter an assessment dialogue, and develop a plan for intervention and support. The participation of parents is a core feature of U.K. and Scottish CPCCs. This reflects an international trend that recognizes the rights of family members to participate in the decision‐making processes of child protection. This article reports on the analysis of 11 qualitative interviews with parents who had attended CPCCs in Scotland. The findings highlight that parents were profoundly affected by these meetings, which were experienced as distressing. Parents lacked clarity about the purposes of CPCCs and found the large number of professionals in attendance intimidating. The discursive practices and structural arrangements of CPCCs acted to privilege professional voices and marginalize the voices of parents. The findings of this study raise important questions about parental participation in CPCCs in the contemporary context of child protection practice.     

Family participation in child protection practice: an observational study of family group meetings

Over the past two decades, child protection authorities internationally have begun to implement models of family participation in child protection decision‐making. Debate exists about the extent to which these models promote family involvement in decision‐making. While a significant body of research on family and professional experience and perceptions of models of family participation in decision‐making has emerged, there has been little observational research of these approaches. In this paper, we report on observational data from 11 family group meetings (FGMs) in a child protection context in Queensland, Australia. Under Queensland child protection law, these meetings are referred to as an inclusive process for child protection decision‐making and planning. We draw on observational data to analyse how family inclusion in child protection decision‐making is facilitated, or limited, by the FGM process. We consider tensions in the realization of a participatory ethos in child protection services systems and discuss what practitioners can practically do to enhance family participation in child protection decision‐making.     

'Lifeworld', 'System' and Family Group Conferences: Habermas's Contribution to Discourse in Child Protection

Habermas’s critical social theory has been challengedon a range of fronts. However, the authors see merit in hismediation thesis as set out in the seminal text, Between Factsand Norms (1996). Adopting a pragmatist defence of the thesis,we review and demonstrate the effectiveness of what we believeis a coincidental expression of some of its main tenets—TheFamily Group Conference in Child Protection. Drawing furtheron Habermas’s work, we then proceed to re-work aspectsof the conference’s core processes, thereby accentuatingthe possibility of empowering dialogue between its key participants:the families (who embody the ‘lifeworld’) and thesocial work professionals (who represent the ‘system’).In the final section, we argue that moral practice in childprotection must be safeguarded by communicational proceduresthat explicitly address issues relating to the use of powerand the need for ‘recognition’ between subjects.     

Holes in the safety net: the strengths and weaknesses of child protection procedures

This paper uses findings from empirical research to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the child protection procedures in the UK. Discontinuities in which child protection plans were not implemented arose because of limitations in the plans made, obstacles to implementation and weaknesses in the conduct of review meetings which rarely questioned the management of cases even when it was clearly deficient. The construction of risk made during the investigation carried over into the initial conference, fed into decisions about registration and had an enduring influence on the way in which later risks to children were interpreted. However, this meant that new information which challenged this view of risk was often ignored. Continuities were also evident between adequate plans for children's safety made at initial conferences and their subsequent protection. However, when children remained at home with an abusing parent, this remained true only when a new key worker had been allocated at the time of the conference. These initial plans also had an impact on the interventions provided, especially those for treatment. These findings emphasize the importance of adequate planning for children and families at initial child protection conferences and the need for an overhaul of the conduct of reviews if they are to be used more effectively.     

Vulnerable children's rights to participation,protection, and provision: The process of defining the problem in Swedish child and family welfare

This study addresses the relationship between children's participation and the protection and provision offered to them by social services in Sweden. It applies a theoretical framework for analysing child welfare that is anchored in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. How child participation may affect child protection and provision is examined empirically using case documentation from 2 municipalities. The main finding is that when children are not given voice or opportunity to influence the framing of what “the problem” is, the design of protection and care tends to be poorly matched to the actual problems documented in the child investigation and vice versa; when children can influence framing, this is associated with well‐matched protection and care. This suggests that traditional child welfare ethos, to the effect that protection should be of such overriding concern that children even should be protected from participation, is misguided. The study further illustrates the intrinsic problems with the family orientation of Swedish social services and its reliance on partnership with parents, which makes it difficult to live up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Incorporating child participation into existing service models can transform Swedish social services to an augmented child‐focused system that by ensuring participation also promotes protection and provision.     

Children's participation in post-divorce decision-making: The role of conflict and attachment

Increased child participation in decision-making about custody and visitation when parents separate is an explicit political goal. This study delineates central family processes associated with child participation in post-divorce decision-making, both in mediation and in the home. Children recruited to the Dynamics of Family Conflict Study at Norwegian family counselling centres (7–15 years, n = 554) completed surveys about interparental conflict, attachment security and whether they had been invited to participate in mediation and share their views at home. Results showed a strong correlation between the two decision-making arenas as children who were invited to participate in mediation were also more likely to have been asked about their views at home, and vice versa. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses indicated that attachment security to mothers predicted that children were invited to participate in mediation. Older children were more likely to have been invited to participate both at home and in mediation. More child-related interparental conflicts predicted that children did not know if they had been consulted at home. The study points to the need for developing better practices for including younger children.     

Exploring approaches to child welfare in contexts of domestic violence and abuse: Family group conferences

This article sets out to explore service provision for families affected by domestic violence and abuse. For most families where there are child protection concerns, there are possibilities for intervention from child welfare agencies and domestic abuse services, but these have been criticised as having distinct and disconnected practice cultures and orientation. Recognising this divergence, in this paper, we advocate for safeguarding children affected by domestic violence and abuse using the family group conference (FGC) model. This offers possibilities for a coherent response that integrates both child‐ and women‐centred concerns in a holistic approach to family safety and well‐being. Furthermore, it is well documented that safeguarding work involves professionally‐led decision‐making that is pre‐occupied with the management of risk. FGCs, however, promote a partnership approach that engages families in a more democratic decision‐making process. As such, FGCs offer families the opportunity to develop their own safety and support plans for the protection and care of children recognising the family's inherent strengths.     

Significant harm and children's experiences of domestic violence

This is the first of two papers concerning children and domestic violence, both of which draw on findings from a Department of Health commissioned study of children suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This paper discusses the ways in which children appear to be harmed by witnessing violence between their parents or parental figures. A brief review is offered of the literature concerning the developmental and behavioural effects on children who have lived with domestic violence. Selected findings from the research study are then discussed. Out of a cohort of 105 maltreated or neglected children, 49 were discovered to be regularly witnessing violence between parents at home. The emotional, social and behavioural effects on 28 children who were studied in detail are presented, through three case studies. Examples are offered of the way in which professionals overlook, discount or downgrade the harm to the child from this hostility. The emotional impact on the child of living with domestic violence rarely forms part of the assessment of significant harm made at the child protection conference; nor does it feature in subsequent plans to protect the child.     

Family involvement in decision making in child protection and care: four types of case conference

Since the early 1980s the child protection and care system of Victoria, Australia, has seen the elaboration and diversification of decision making forums, with variable levels of participation by parents and older children. This paper identifies four forums which occur at different stages of the protective process and are held under different auspices and with different membership and purposes. This paper describes and compares these mechanisms with a view to clarifying their distinctive contributions and commonalities, and elaborates issues relating to how 'family' is conceptualized, underlying tensions in protective worker-family relationships, the process of participation, and the management of multiple case planning processes. The paper discusses problems that arise as multiple mechanisms become institutionalized within the same child protection system, and some limitations of participatory case planning in producing systems change.     

Challenging the abuse decision: a comparison of American and British perspectives on complaints and appeals

The conclusion by child protection services that a child has been abused and the decision to make a formal record of that conclusion involves a process called'registration' in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This is an administrative process rather than a judicial one and is instituted by public officials not lawyers, but it can have as significant an effect on the families involved as the findings of a court Yet, despite this significance, families have found it very difficult to challenge the decision to register a case of abuse, particularly in the UK. This papers offers a critique of registration processes in the UK and in the USA and suggests ways in which these processes might be improved to protect individual rights.     

Service user participation in diverse child protection contexts: principles for practice

Promoting the participation of children and parents in child protection practice is one of the most complex and sensitive areas of social work practice. Increasingly, child protection legislation and policy in many parts of the world enshrines ideals of service user participation. Yet, with the exception of extensive discussion about family group conferencing, the principles and methods for achieving participatory practices in child protection work remain underdeveloped. We use the term 'child protection' to refer to a broad spectrum of child and family welfare services aimed at prevention of (or intervention to address) child abuse and neglect. This spectrum of services includes intensive family support, family support, domestic violence, statutory child protection and child and family advocacy services. In this paper, we present findings from the first phase of a 3-year study into participatory practice in child protection. In this paper, we present findings from a qualitative analysis of interviews with 28 child protection practitioners across five domains of child protection work. Our analysis reveals three core principles of participatory practice underpinning these practitioners' accounts as well as contextual differences among them. We conclude with a discussion of the educational implications of our findings.     

New Directions in child protection and family support in Western Australia: a policy initiative to re-focus child welfare practice

There is now considerable evidence from numerous countries that statutory child welfare agencies are being overwhelmed by a massive increase in child protection referrals which require investigation, while there has been a growing failure to develop preventive family support services. This paper describes the changes introduced in Western Australia to address this situation in what has come to be called New Directions in Child Protection and Family Support . The results demonstrate that the changes have led to a significant restructuring of the way the Department of Family and Children's Services there responds to concerns expressed about children. It is argued that this has had an impact on the proportion of child maltreatment cases which are substantiated and the way responses are prioritized and allocated, and has provided the Department with a more explicit and clearer focus for its work in a period of increasing demand and rapid change.     

‘You've got to trust her and she's got to trust you’: children's views on participation in the child protection system

Participation by children in child protection remains a complex area of practice. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study exploring the views of 26 children, aged 6–17 years, about their participation in the child protection system in England. All of the children were subject to a child protection plan and were living at home at the time of interview. The children's understanding of the child protection process was categorized, and the majority of children, including the youngest, were found be at least partially aware of the child protection process, often struggling to make sense of the professional intervention in their families on the basis of partial information. It is argued that decisions about children's involvement should take into account not only children's age and understanding, but be seen in the context of wider family dynamics. Participation in formal processes such as child protection conferences was experienced as difficult and emotive. The child's relationship with their social worker was central to meaningful participation.     

Balancing parents' and very young children's rights in care proceedings: decision-making in the context of the Human Rights Act 1998

This paper explores whether the Human Rights Act 1998 has influenced the approach a range of professionals, including social workers, managers and children's guardians adopt when they examine and seek to balance the potentially competing rights of parents and children involved in care proceedings. Drawing on findings from an empirical study of the decision‐making process that influences the life pathways of very young children in care, it also explores some of the dilemmas professionals face in their day‐to‐day practice and examines whether parental rights are prioritized over children's rights in certain instances.     

Street-level bureaucracy and family group decision making in the USA

Since its official recognition in New Zealand law in 1989, family group decision making (FGDM) has been utilized by a growing number of child welfare workers throughout the world. In the USA, social workers in 35 states utilize FGDM. The seeming popularity of the practice, however, belies its complex position in American child welfare policy. This brief analytic essay examines this position by focusing on the relationship between street-level bureaucracy and FGDM. Specifically, it describes the role of street-level bureaucracy in FGDM's diffusion throughout the USA during a time of considerable policy skepticism towards family support, and it explains the dilution of the FGDM model through use of street-level bureaucracy theory. The essay concludes by raising important policy questions concerning the use and replication of FGDM in the USA.     

‘They didn't tell me anything; they just sent me home’: children's participation in the return home

The reality of child protection systems typically demonstrates a lack of attention to the voices of children. There are studies that confirm this fact and offer evidence of the benefits of participation, but gaps remain regarding the elements and processes that favour it. This qualitative study attempts to contribute to knowledge in this area through a detailed analysis of the perspectives of the actors involved and the role that children play in the return home. This article analyses the elements involved in the participation of the children when a return home is proposed after a period of family or residential foster care. As part of the study, 18 semi‐structured interviews were conducted and 22 discussion groups were created with a total of 135 participants (63 child protection services workers, 42 parents and 30 children and adolescents). The data were analysed using a content analysis process and underwent a peer review process in Atlas.ti. The results indicate that the participation of children and adolescents in the return home centres around (i) understanding the return home, (ii) strategies and emotional processes and (iii) social support.     

The Department of Health research studies in child protection: a response to Parton

This paper responds to the critical appraisal of the Department of Health Research Studies in Child Protection by Partem. It commends the general presentation of the context of the research but does not wholly accept the conceptual and methodological problems identified. While not disagreeing that a shift in the balance between narrowly defined child protection and family support will be difficult, the research is seen as providing helpful insights for managers and practitioners who wish to make this shift. The paper attempts to provide a different perspective of the current situation as a contribution to continuing debate.     

The participation of parents in the protection system: The case of the Spanish legislation

Working with the families of origin of children and adolescents (CA) who are in the CA protection system is essential to achieve reunification, which is the ultimate objective when planning foster care; it is a scientific, social and professional challenge that must be included in the legislation of each country. For this, it is essential that the laws consider and regulate the participation of families in decision-making during foster care and subsequent reunification processes. We analysed 22 laws enacted through Spanish legislation, both national and regional, that regulate the protection of children. The study focuses on analysing how the Spanish legislation contemplates the participation of parents during foster care and subsequent reunification. The Spanish legislative texts do not expressly, clearly and effectively include the participation of parents. They are limited to the punctual recognition of acts of notification and hearing and, where appropriate, of opposition to certain resolutions. Spain lacks a general legal framework that supports and guarantees the necessary participation of the family in the protection system. The focus on the recognition of the rights of CA in laws as a result of international pressure has relegated the legal protection of the rights of parents, mainly in their right to be heard.