Skip to content

Hertfordshire County Council

 

What is a family group conference?

A family group conference is a meeting for a child or young person, their family and their friends. It's a safe space where everyone can talk through concerns that have been raised, then come up with a plan to make things better.


How can it help?

We believe that families know themselves best. The meeting brings them together so they can:

  • talk through their issues and understand what's happening in each other's lives
  • think about what support they need
  • make a plan to resolve concerns and improve the safety of their children.

 

Who can have a family group conference?

We offer conferences to families of:

  • babies and unborn babies
  • children up to 18 years old
  • young people with a learning disability, up to 25 years old.

You can't self-refer to the service. If you think it could help, please ask your social worker or another professional.

 

Who will be at the meeting?

  • The child or young person (if they want to come).
  • Their parents or carers.
  • Anyone else they want to invite who can provide support, such as trusted friends, relatives or neighbours.
  • The family's social worker.
  • One of our coordinators. They're independent from Children's Services and don't make decisions about a young person's future.
  • A translator or sign language interpreter, if needed.

 

What will happen?

The process usually takes 6-8 weeks.

Before the meeting

  1. A professional will make a referral to us, if the family is happy to participate.
  2. One of our coordinators will meet the parents or carers to explain why the meeting is happening, how it will work and what questions we'll ask.
  3. Our coordinator will also ask the child or young person if they want to come to the meeting and if there's anything specific they want to be discussed.
  4. The family can decide when and where they'd like to meet and who they want to invite. Our coordinator will arrange it and meet with all attendees beforehand.

At the meeting

1. Information sharing - Everyone will introduce themselves. The social worker will explain the concerns and what needs to change, then answer any questions the family has.

2. Private family time - The coordinator and social worker will give the family questions to discuss, then leave the room. Families can take breaks, ask for help and take as long as they need.

3. Agreeing the plan - When the family is happy with their answers, the coordinator and social worker will come back in. They'll go through the plan and agree any actions.

After the meeting

  • Everyone will be sent a copy of the plan, which they should follow after the meeting.
  • The social worker and a nominated family member will check that the plan is working.

 

Find out more

Ask us a question

 

Printable leaflets

 

 

Rate this page

Cookies

Like many other websites, we place small information files called 'cookies' on your computer.

Why do we use cookies?

To remember your settings, for example your language and location. This means you don’t have to keep entering these details when you visit a new page.

To find out how you use the site to help us update and improve it.

How do I change my cookie settings?

You can change the settings of your web browser so that it won’t accept cookies. For more information visit AboutCookies.org.

But, doing this may stop you from using some of the online features and services on this website. 

Cookies we use

Cookies do a lot of different jobs, and we use 2 types of cookies:

Required functionality cookies – these cookies are essential for the website to work.

Performance and feature cookies – these cookies help to improve the performance and feel of this website, for example providing you with personalised services.


Take a look at a list of cookies we use on our website:

NameTypeHow we use itHow long we use the information for

ASP.Net_Sessions

 

Required functionality

An automatic cookie set by our software. 

Just for the time you are on our website.

ServerID

 

Required functionality

An automatic cookie set by our software. 

Just for the time you are on our website.

_ga

Required functionality

To track the effectiveness of our website using Google Analytics. 

2 years

saved-pages

Performance and feature

To save the pages that you visit by clicking the heart at the top of the page. 

1 month

geoPostcode

Performance and feature

This stores your postcode (or partial postcode) when we ask you for your location.

Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).

geoCoordinates

Performance and feature

This stores your location as a pair of latitude / longitude coordinates.

Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).

reckonerName-history

Performance and feature

This keeps a history of all answers submitted to the ready reckoner.

This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.

reckonerName-content

Performance and feature

This keeps a history of what content cards are clicked on when using the ready reckoner.

This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.

SQ_SYSTEM_SESSION

Required functionality

This used to track user sessions on forms hosted on eservices.hertfordshire.gov.uk

Just for the time you are on our website.


Third party cookies

There are links and content from other sites and services on our website. These sites and services set their own cookies.

Below are a list of cookies that the other sites and services use:

Service namePurposeMore information

Google analytics (_utma/b/c/z)

These are used to compile reports for us on how people use this site.

Cookies of the same names are also used for the same purpose by other websites such as Building FuturesCountryside Management Service and Hertfordshire LIS.

Visit the Google Analytics website for more information about the cookies they use.

You can prevent data from being collected and used by Google Analytics by installing Google's Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Google Translation - googtrans

This cookie is used to remember which language to translate each page into if you have chosen to do so.

It expires at the end of your browser session.

Bing

We use a Bing cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.

Visit Bing to find out more about their cookies.

Google

We use a Google cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.

Visit Google to find out more about their cookies.

Facebook

We have a number of presences on Facebook, which we may link to. Facebook may set some of its own cookies if you follow these links.

Visit Facebook to find out more about their cookies.

Twitter

We have a number of presences and feeds on Twitter, which you may wish to follow or read from this website. Twitter may set some of its own cookies.

Visit Twitter to find out more about their cookies.

YouTube

We have a YouTube channel, which we may link to. YouTube may set some of its own cookies if you follow those links.

Visit YouTube to find out more about their cookies.

Netloan

This ASP.NET_Sessionid cookie is essential for the Netloan secure online payments website to work, and is set when you arrive to the site. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser.

 

HotJar

This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels.

Visit HotJar to find out more about their cookies.

Siteimprove

These cookies are set to help us report on how people are using the site so we can improve it.

Visit Siteimprove to learn more about their cookies.