Family Group Decision Making

The purpose of this Service Specification is to understand the nature of the Family Group Decision Making Service in Lincolnshire. This is an internal document which aims to provide an operational overview of the Family Group Decision Making Service.

The Family Group Decision Making primarily operates within Lincolnshire Children's Services and within Lincolnshire Adult Care Services.

When working in both Children and Adult Services the aim is to produce a family plan.

A Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is a more formal decision-making meeting, where the child's wider family and network come together to plan about the future arrangements for the child. The plan will ensure that the child is safe, and their wellbeing is promoted.

Family Group Decision Making is intended as a respectful and empowering process in which parents, children and members of the wider family or friends are given clear information about the concerns and are asked to work with the Family Group Decision Making Worker, to produce a plan that addresses those concerns and answers specific queries. The expectation is that the referrer will attend the FGDM to outline the strengths/concerns and then leave the meeting to enable the family to produce a plan that will safeguard against the concerns.

Every family is unique and has its own community values, culture, personalities, dynamics and history. An FGDM uses the family's' / friends own skills, strengths and personal knowledge to resolve difficulties. Using the family's own expertise and ensuring their involvement in the FGDM process can help to support the difficulties that are being experienced by the child/young person at that time.

FGDM is a targeted approach to prevention and has improved the Council's ability to manage demand on services. FGDM helps to identify the shared needs and collective assets of the family and local community at an early stage, bringing to the fore more creative options and resources as an alternative to reliance on services. 

An FGDM plan will be created within an anticipated timescale of 6 weeks for Children's Services.

The ethos of Family Group Decision Making is primarily consensual; however, within Children's Services, where the child is subject to, or on the periphery of becoming a Child in Care, the FGDM will be an expected requirement of the child's Social Care Plan and must be offered to all children and their family.

What is the difference between a Family Network Meeting and Family Group Decision Making Meeting?

The Family Network process in Lincolnshire is a key approach to supporting families by drawing on their own internal resources that is undertaken at the earliest opportunity by the lead professional. The meeting is a less formal approach that will look at who is supporting the child/family from the network. In some circumstances the work completed at The Family Network Meeting may fully support the child's plan and a referral not required to the FGDM Team.

The Family Group Decision Making Meeting is a more formal process. A referral be needed as further planning is required to pull the network together, to create a plan that safeguards against any worries that professionals may have. Impartiality may be required, and the relationship with Lead Professionals may be strained, as an impact of the role that they are undertaking.

FGDM use a variety of approaches to support the delivery of FGDM, such as Restorative Practice and Signs of Safety - Calendaring, best questions.

The Family Group Decision Making model is used where this is felt to be the best approach to meetings particularly at Child Protection and Pre Proceedings.

The role of the worker is vital in negotiating attendance at a Family Group Decision Making meeting and in informing all children and the Network  about the process involved. This role is separate from other professionals' involvement with the family.

The FGDM Worker will aim to undertake meetings with the family and friends; this will identify the support networks within the family.

It is the aim of the Lincolnshire FGDM team that all extended members will be contacted, if a considerable geographical distance is involved this will be primarily by phone however face to face contact may be agreed following a discussion with FGDM managers.

It is key that within each FGDM, the child/adult voice is captured and where appropriate they attend the meeting.

The worker organises the meeting in conjunction with the child/adult and their identified family members, carers, friends and support network.

Prior to the meeting the FGDM Worker should discuss with the child how they will be enabled to participate in the meeting and whether they would like a supporter or advocate in the meeting. The child must be enabled to participate fully within the process, and it is the worker's role to find flexible and imaginative ways of achieving this. There will be occasions where the child chooses not to attend their FGDM, should this be the case their input must be sourced in alternative ways. For families where English is not their first language, interpreters will be sourced via the referrers team.

The worker negotiates the date, time and venue for the conference with the family and arrangements are made where possible to facilitate their attendance without them needing to take time off work etc. This may mean that conferences take place at weekends or in the evening. The worker sends out invitations and makes the necessary practical arrangements, including interpreters.

The Family Group Decision Making team sits within the wider service area which includes Family Time and TIME Programme in Lincolnshire.

The Life Links Worker uses various tools and strategies to engage and empower the young person to be involved in the decision-making process, encouraging the network to share the responsibility for safety, permanence and well-being of the children or adult.

 Tools used include:

• Eco mapping;
• Calendaring;
• Mobility Mapping and Connectedness Map.

The aim is that over a period the network will continue to meet and review their plan when professional support has stepped away ensuring safety for the young person through a lifetime network.

• Case worker makes the request for LifeLinks' via Mosaic;
• Worker allocated within 48 hours;
• Worker contacts the child or adult to arrange face to face meeting to explain the service and consent to progress;
• Direct work completed with child or adult utilising family finder tools;
• Worker, child, or adult speaks to identified network and agrees the first meeting;
• The lead professional attends the initial meeting to share information with the network;
• Networks identify unmet needs and agree who in the network is going to provide support going forward and progress to a meeting to develop the support plan;
• Child or adult and the network meet monthly (or as agreed) to review the plan and over coming months the network identifies one of the groups to facilitate review meetings going forward;
• The worker supports until the child or adult, and network are confident that the plan is being implemented and sustainable;
• The worker closes involvement.

On receipt of a request to facilitate a disruption meeting the allocated worker will:

• Will contact the referrer and get a case overview;
• Will liaise with all parties and complete a prep visit to understand what has happened from everyone's perspective and discuss with them the agenda for the meeting;
• Will arrange where appropriate to speak to the child/young person and capture their views;
• Will book a venue and minute taker and confirm the date with attendees;
• Meeting will take place within 28 working days of request;
• Following the meeting the minutes will be sent to the Team Manager Fostering and uploaded onto both the Foster Carers and Child's Mosaic record.

Follow Section 4.5 The Process of a Family Group Decision Making, as it follows the same process as Family Decision Making. 

In the first instance a Family Network Meeting must take place within 5 working days if the child is CP/CiC and 10 working days if the child is CIN. If the plan created from the Family Network Meeting is not robust and further meetings or impartiality is required, a referral is to be made for a Family Group Decision Making Team, to create a robust family plan. The family plan will contribute to the progress/safety plan for the child.

Where a Plan is in place or is being considered, it is essential to discuss how the family plan will contribute to keeping the child safe and mitigate the risks that have been identified in the protection plan.

Serious consideration must be given to develop a robust plan to prevent the child becoming accommodated or for the successful rehabilitation of the child back into the care of the extended family/network.

The Plan made at a Family Network Meeting /FGDM will support decision making in respect of the child and inform future reviews of a child in need/ Child Protection/  Child in Care reviews.

FGDMs are family led meetings and not all professionals involved with the family need to attend. For this reason, Core Group Meetings should not be incorporated into an FGDM.

The worker informs the referrer of the date and time of the FGDM and confirms their attendance at the meeting. If the referrer cannot attend the meeting, they are to nominate another worker from their team to attend on their behalf to share the concerns and strengths with the family group and then allow the family to agree a plan that will safeguard against the concerns.

The Family Plan created at the Families meeting must be endorsed by the referrer at the end of the FGDM process.

Family members who have agreed to monitor the family plan should be invited to future social care meetings to ensure that there is continuity between the processes.

Where the FGDM process uncovers new information that the child/adult is suffering or likely to suffer Significant Harm the worker must inform the child/adults lead professional immediately or in their absence refer to that team's duty officer. At weekends and evenings any concerns should be reported to the Emergency Duty Team.

Upon completion of the families plan this will be input onto Mosaic and sent for authorisation to the Senior Family Group Decision Making Worker (or an alternative FGDM manager) prior to distribution.

Upon approval the families plan it will be sent to the involved family members and the referrer by their preferred method.

The FGDM services involvement will end once the families plan has been completed.

The FGDM service operates across the whole of Lincolnshire. To meet geographical demand the FGDM team is structured as described below:

The FGDM team contributes to the following Performance Indicators:

• Stability of placements;
• The case status escalating;
• Numbers of children rehabilitated home.

Quality and assurance of casework is monitored during 6/8 weekly supervision and at closure audit. FGDM will also be considered when wider themed audits are taking place.