Search Results (3)

Māori wisdom revolutionized the child welfare system through the now manualized Family Group Conferencing method. The global trend of adopting and adapting this culturally grounded child welfare practice has been well documented. However, as this service model is adapted and imported to other countries, so is its legacy of settler colonialism. This qualitative case study applies Settler Colonialism Theory to unpack the settler colonialism embedded in the process of adopting an adapted Indigenist family engagement program in Taiwan. Research findings indicate that cultural adaptation reproduces settler colonialism. To implement family engagement within a paternalistic CPS system, program implementers struggled between authoritative decision making and building meaningful state–family partnerships. Although adhering to a model that ostensibly involves family decision making may ease settler anxiety among program implementers, settler colonialism remains the elephant in the room. It frequently undergirds the cultural adaptation process. Liberatory social work practice calls for unpacking settler anxiety, systems of power, and cultural imperialism embedded in program implementation. Full article

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing (FGC), a decision-making model that is not only family-centered but also takes the form of a family-driven or social network, and to consider the challenges to FGC implementation. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O’Malley framework. A systematic search was conducted of such electronic databases as PsycInfo, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. Criteria were set utilizing the search terms “family group conferencing” or “family group conference”, with the search refined to studies published between January 2015 and July 2020. The data extracted by the review team were inductively analyzed, and the findings were classified into categories. Results: This review included a total of 26 studies. The categories underscoring the effectiveness of FGC included “sense of ownership”, “restoring belongingness”, “reduction of coercion”, and “learning platform”. Categories presenting challenges to FGC implementation included “severe situations of main actor”, “severe situations of the family”, “the complex role of the FGC coordinator”, and “the cost-ineffectiveness of FGC”. Conclusions: The effectiveness in the capacity of decision-makers was determined by the interaction between the main actor and social network of the FGC, with the challenges to FGC reducing the likelihood of completing the FGC process. It will be necessary therefore to identify the skills and qualifications of FGC coordinators, who must take into account group dynamics, so as to enable the main actor and their social network to develop a positive reciprocal interaction. Full article

The protective features that families and wider social relationships can have are required to meet the demands of life in contemporary Western societies. Choice and detraditionalization, however; impede this source of solidarity. Family Group Conferencing (FGC) and other life-world led interventions have the potential to strengthen primary groups. This paper explores the need for such a social intervention, using insights from sociological and philosophical theories and empirical findings from a case study of the research project ‘FGC in mental health’. This need is understandable considering the weakening of kin ties, the poor qualities of state agencies to mobilise self-care and informal care, its capacity to produce a shift of power from public to private spheres and its capacity to mitigate the co-isolation of individuals, families and communities. A life-world led intervention like FGC with a specific and modest ambition contributes to small-scale solidarity. This ambition is not inclined to establish a broad social cohesion within society but to restore; in terms of the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk; immunity (protection) and solidarity in primary groups, and consequently, resolve issues with those (family, neighbours, colleagues) who share a sphere (a situation, a process, a fate). Full article