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National Center on Family Group Decision Making™
Save the Date! American Humane’s 2009 Family Group Decision Making Conference
Join us in Pittsburgh, Pa., June 2-5, 2009, for the next FGDM conference! Watch this spot for the call for presentations and more information about the conference workshops, skills-building institutes and intensive seminars. Before or after the conference, explore these Pittsburgh attractions. (PDF)
Hope to see you there!
Family-Centered Solutions -- Changing Child Welfare Policy and Practice on the Ground
September 17-18, 2008, Stratford-upon-Avon, England
The Family Rights Group is hosting an international conference exploring family-centered models and practice. Families, policymakers, researchers and practitioners will come together to focus on values, evidence and experience in family-centered work. Learn more and register for the conference. (PDF)
New Report: Families Gaining Their Seat at the Table
American Humane is pleased to announce the release of a new paper that reviews family engagement strategies documented in the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and state Program Improvement Plans (PIPs). American Humane commissioned Sara Munson and Madelyn Freundlich to write this report, which highlights various types of family meetings that states are pursuing to improve family and child involvement in case planning. Access the report. (PDF)
Michael Doolan joins FGDM team
American Humane is pleased to announce that Michael Doolan, from Christchurch, New Zealand, will be joining our family group decision making (FGDM) team for the month of June 2008. Mike is the former chief social worker for the New Zealand Department of Child, Youth and Family, and is a renowned expert in family group conferencing (FGC), kinship care, and child homicide and child death reviews. Mike will infuse additional policy and practice expertise into U.S. and Canadian communities by working to implement and sustain FGDM processes in child welfare and youth justice systems. He also will be authoring a number of papers on behalf of American Humane and providing training and technical assistance to communities. Learn more. (PDF;70MB) 2 pages
Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) Teleconference Series
Building on the success of the annual Family Group Decision Making Conference and addressing a need identified by our FGDM colleagues, in 2005 American Humane launched various 1- and 2-day advanced training institutes throughout the United States. To complement the training institutes and annual conference, and recognizing that some FGDM coordinators and facilitators are geographically isolated, work independently in their community, or have limited resources to attend skills-based training, American Humane is debuting an FGDM Teleconference Series in August 2007. The teleconferences will be scheduled to occur throughout the year. American Humane’s FGDM team has identified the topics for the first Teleconference Series based on training and conference evaluations and informal dialogues with our FGDM colleagues.
This series is designed to: promote thought-provoking, stimulating dialogue that helps community leaders advance the practice, policy, and implementation of FGDM; create a culture of support and learning for FGDM coordinators/facilitators and other service providers; build strategic solutions (based on the experiences of many) to any roadblocks encountered with implementation; and leverage the expertise within the FGDM network.
To read more about the teleconference series, including topics and scheduling, click here. (PDF; 184KB) 6 pages
Protecting Children 22.1: Exploring Practice, Philisophical and Political Complexities with the Implementation of Family Group Decision Making
Our newest issue of Protecting Children is dedicated to American Humane’s Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) program. FGDM offers a new approach to working with families involved with the child welfare system. Families are engaged and empowered by child welfare agencies to make decisions and develop plans that nurture and protect their children from enduring further abuse and neglect. FGDM is an umbrella term for a number of processes that position children, youth and families as leaders in decision making.
Topics in this 2007 issue include:
- Complexities of implementing FGDM
- Addressing racial disproportionality
- Participation rights
- Click here to download Mike Doolan’s article, Duty Calls: The response of law, policy and practice to participation right in child welfare systems
- Involving Children in FGDM
- Click here to download Paul Nixon's article, Seen but Not Heard? Children and Young People's Participation in Family Group Decision Making: Concepts and Practice Issues
- Permanency for youth through FGDM
- FGDM in the context of death and dying
To order this issue, please visit our publications page. |
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