Information on the use of Family Group Conferences

The request was successful.

Dear Leeds City Council,

I would like to make a request under the freedom of information act to obtain information regarding the use of family group conferences within your children’s services and would be grateful for the following information please:

• Are holding Family Group Conferences a standard part of your process?
• How many Family Group Conferences do you hold on average a month?
• What would you consider the success rate of the Family Group Conferences to be (with success being that the child is not placed in care etc.)?

I look forward to receiving your response in due course.

Yours faithfully,
S J Lines

DPFOI, Leeds City Council

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Leeds City Council

Requests Team
Information Management & Governance
Leeds City Council
PO Box 837
LS1 9PZ
Tel: 0113 3784251
Email: [email address]

Our reference: MH2IXU8VF

Date 16/03/2021

Dear S J Lines,

Re: Freedom of Information Request 

I refer to your request to the council.

We will respond to your request in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

You may also wish to check information published by Leeds City Council at
datamillnorth.org to see if the information you have requested is already
available.

We will endeavor to send all of the appropriate information you have
requested within statutory time scales, however if there is a large volume
of data we may need to send this to you in batches. Where this is the
case, we will contact you.

If you have any queries or wish to discuss this matter then please contact
me on 0113 3784251 or by email to [email address].

Yours sincerely,

Information Management & Governance Team
Digital Information Service
Leeds City Council

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Naylor, Emma, Leeds City Council

2 Attachments

 

To whom it may concern;

 

Thank you for your request relating to Family Group Conference Data in
Leeds. I have now had the opportunity to put together the information you
have requested.

 

Are holding Family Group Conferences a standard part of your process?

 

Family Group Conferencing is an integral part of the service offered to
children and their families from Early Help intervention to Children being
Looked After. We aim towards the offer of an FGC being an entitlement to
all children, but of course this does not mean that all children have one
– some families do not feel that they wish to progress a referral and for
a number of reasons it isnt appropriate for some families once it has been
explored.

 

Currently, we have a number of points throughout a child’s journey with
services where the offer of an FGC is mandatory; such points generally
coincide with significant decision making for a child; such as part of the
pre- birth assessment process; at the point of an Initial Child Protection
Conference and prior to a decision being made that a child may need to
come into the care of the Local Authority. This is to ensure that families
are given every opportunity and support to come together and develop their
own plan for a child that they feel addresses the risk and increases their
chances of remaining with birth parents in the first instance and extended
family in the second instance.

 

How many Family Group Conferences do you hold on average a month?

Full year Jan - Dec No. of Initial FGC No. of Review FGC
2017 318 154
2018 244 122
               2019 247 96
               2020 232 90

 

The number for 2020 is slightly lower due to the limitations placed on FGC
services as a result of the Pandemic, in terms of referral rates to FGC
and transition from a face to face FGC to Virtual way of working.

 

What would you consider the success rate of the Family Group Conferences
to be (with success being that the child is not placed in care etc.)?

 

Effective
Desired outcome FGC
definition
Child not
CLA at time
of FGC and
Avoid child being does not
looked after become CLA
within 12
months of
FGC
Child not
CPP at time
of FGC and
does not
become CPP
within 12
months of
FGC or CPP
plan ends
Avoid/de-escalate within 12
child protection months of
plan FGC, if CPP
plans ends
and child
becomes CLA
this is
counted as
ineffective.
PLO not
included in
this
indicator
Child who is
CLA at the
time of FGC
and ceases
to be CLA
within 12
Return to family months of
from care FGC or has a
placement of
kinship care
or placed
with parent
as FGC
closure date
Family supported All
to help themselves statutory
(avoid/de-escalate intervention
statutory ends within
intervention) 12 months of
FGC

 

 

  2017 2018 2019

so far
Avoid child being looked after 63% 77% 92%

 
Avoid/de-escalate child protection plan 91% 88% 47%

 
Return to family from care 29% 35% 100%

 
Family supported to help themselves 46% 60% 44%

(Avoid/de-escalate statutory intervention)        

 

 

Hopefully this is the information you are looking for. Please do not
hesitate to come back to us if this is not the case.

 

Regards

 

 

[1]Emma (007)

 

Emma Naylor

Service Delivery Manger

Kinship Care Services and Family Group Conference

 

0113 3782633

07891274151

 

Email : [2][email address]

 

Due to my family/work balance, you may get emails from me outside normal
working hours. I respect your working pattern and do not expect you to
respond outside of it.

 

 

 

[3]Emma (007)

 

Emma Naylor

Service Delivery Manger

Kinship Care Services and Family Group Conference

 

0113 3782633

07891274151

 

Email : [4][email address]

 

Due to my family/work balance, you may get emails from me outside normal
working hours. I respect your working pattern and do not expect you to
respond outside of it.

 

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Dear Emma Naylor,

Many thanks for your reply

Yours sincerely,

S J Lines

Naylor, Emma, Leeds City Council

I am now out of the office until 06.04.21. If you urgently need to get
hold of somebody please contact Lyndsey Mortimer on 0113 3789473 
otherwise i will respond to you when i return.

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References

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