When do social workers and family members try family group decision making?
A process evaluation. International Journal of Child & Family Welfare, 9(3), 131-143. This study describes relevant characteristics of families selected or rejected for referral to a family group decision making conference and distinguishes between families that elected to accept the referral from those that turned it down and between families that were able to arrive at a plan to keep children within the extended family and those that did not. The multiyear project was specifically designed to divert children from foster care and keep them with extended family. Five hundred ninety-three referrals received over a five-year period were coded for relevant characteristics for the child, the family, the parents and the maltreatment. Referral for a family meeting required unanimous agreement among the professionals involved. Logistical regression was used to identify case characteristics associated with the decision to refer, the decision to take up the offer of a meeting, the families that
