SOCIAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA
A PRESENTATION ON FAMILY GROUP CONFERENCING
Family Group Conferencing
• Family Group Conferencing is an approach of addressing social problems or
offering interventions by the involvement key identified members of a client.
• Family Group Conferencing can also take the involvement of not only the
client’s family members but also families within society that could be significant
to the client’s family.
Origin of Family Group
Conferencing
• Family Group Conferencing has its origin in the criminal justice system in which it was used in a
response by engaging family members of people most affected by the crime. In this approach, the
victim and the offender; and their families including friends and key supporters of both where part
of the therapeutic process in deciding the resolution of a criminal incident.
• The affected parties are brought together by a trained facilitator to discuss how they and others have
been harmed by the offense and how that harm might be repaired. To participate, the offender must
admit to the offense. Participation by all involved is voluntary. The facilitator contacts the victim and
offender to explain the process and invites them to the conference; the facilitator also asks them to
identify key members of their support systems, who will be invited to participate as well.
Origin of Family Group
Conferencing Cont..
• In Zambia, Family Group Conferencing was first adopted under the
juvenile/child justice Reforms in the late 1990’s.
• The approach was used to deal with increasing incidences of juvenile
delinquency in the country.
• It was observed that most juveniles/children appeared in courts;
On petty offences which could have been resolved through family meetings
Courts were more often imposing custodial orders which was argued was not
within the principle of “ Best Interest of the Child/Juvenile.
Children/juveniles were appearing in courts unaccompanied
The cases that were brought before courts was discovered that family of
offenders were at times not aware that the child/juvenile had been
apprehended, etc
Origin of Family Group
Conferencing Cont..
• The Forum promoted several measures that included Family Group Conferencing in
which they demanded for presence of families for both offender and victim
• The juvenile inspectors too implemented Family Group Conferencing in the like manner.
• Family group conferencing is currently used in Zambia as a diversion option from the
court process for juveniles/children.
• But it is also used after adjudication to address unresolved emotional issues or to
determine the specific terms of restitution.
• A lot of offenses have been resolved through family group conferencing, including theft,
arson, minor assaults, drug offenses, and vandalism.
Family Group Conferencing (FGC) Approach in SP
• The FGC begins with the client indicating and describing the problem or incident
• This is followed by each participant describing the impact of the problem or incident on his
or her life.
• It is preferable to allow the client to start the discussion, or the social worker initiating the
dialogue.
• Through these narrations, the client;
is faced with the human impact of the behavior on himself,
Impact on potential victim/s and on those close to the victim, and
Impact on the client’s own family and friends.
Family Group Conferencing (FGC) Approach Cont….
• The client here has the opportunity to express feelings and ask questions
about the incident.
• After a thorough discussion of the impact of the behavior on those present,
the client is asked to identify desired outcomes from the FGC.
• This introduces obligations placed on the client and his/her family.
• All participants may contribute to the problem solving process
• CWACs are critical to take note of the process and outcome for their follow
especially on obligations.
Goals of FGC
The goals of family group conferencing include:
• Providing an opportunity to the client to be directly involved in the discussion
of the situation or problem and decisions for the best response or remedy to
take
• Increase the client's awareness of the impact of that situation or problem
• Seek involvement of the client’s support system for remedying the situation
• Allow the client and victim/s to reconnect and also reconnect to key
community support systems.
Implementation of FGC IN THE
PROJECT
• The project focuses, children, adolescents, mothers and families;
• This can help;
Using FGC to deal with causes of malnutrition and stunting in children using its
approach.
Parents in SCT uses money to school needs of children. A parent can easily feel
frustrated if the child misses school or underperforms.
Implementation of FGC IN THE
PROJECT
The family group conferencing process can be implemented in schools in
communities, cases before traditional leadership or police including
neighborhood groups.
CWACs can serve as facilitators after skills training by SWF.
Besides involving the victim, offender, and their family members, a
conference might involve other key people in the client and offender’s lives
such as families, teachers, nurses, other relatives, peers and the like.
Community dialogues
• This is the holding of community meetings to address issues or problems
affecting the community.
• Unlike FGC, Community dialogues involve members of the community
meeting at a designate d time and place for the engagement.
• These dialogues draws participants from as many parts of the community as
possible to exchange information face-to-face, share personal stories and
come up with way forward
Community dialogues
• These meetings are led by a lead of the community who;-
Pronounces the problem or issue affecting the community
Solicits community input and resolutions
Community implements the resolution collectively or as agreed.
END OF PRESENTATION
AND
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION
