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Contact Details
Tel: 0151 643 9717Family Group Meetings
Family Group Meetings are available by referral from Lead Professionals who have completed a CAF as part of the Team Around the Child Process OR via a social worker working with families with children/young people aged 0-19.
The principals of a Family group meeting:
- Gives children/young people and families a central role in decisions affecting their lives thus facilitating empowerment.
- Are undertaken voluntarily.
- The needs of the child are paramount
- FGM’s include private family time.
- They respect a families diversity ,ethnicity ,culture & religion
- Organised by an independent co-ordinator
- Professionals need to be clear about what they hope to achieve for the child /young person/family.
- Involves extended family network (relatives and friends who are part of the family system) and draws in new people/energy/resources/imagination.
The aim of a Family Group Meeting is to bring together extended members of a family to discuss the issues raised and to empower them to meet their challenges. The meeting will culminate in a plan of action developed by and for the family.
The referrer contacts the immediate family to gain agreement to the staging of the meeting and also clarifies concerns with the FGM co-ordinator.
The named co-ordinator visits the child /young person /parents /carers and explains the process.
They also define the family network, any professionals involved and contacts, or if possible visits all those the family wish to invite.
A date, venue and food are agreed.
The meeting takes place in a neutral venue. An Advocate can be made available to support a child /young person or vulnerable adult.
The meeting has 3 stages;
- Information giving
- Private family time
- Agreement of plan stage
At the end of the meeting a review date will be offered to see if the plan is working or needs any adjustments.
Who attends the meeting?
The child /young person, the family the lead professional or the social worker, the FGM facilitator and any other people who may support the family’s plan.
