ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses some information on family group conferences and related child welfare practices. It focuses on the protection of children with the enhancement of family and community well-being. The book deals with the origins of conferencing and major set of value assumptions underlying practice. It also presents the principles of conferencing, relating these to social work theory, child welfare practice, and related programming efforts, including wraparound, patch, circles, and working with social support networks. The book provides information on national and state conferencing practices. It includes studies that carried out on programs in Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, England and Wales, the United States, Northern Ireland, as well as the states of Oregon, North Carolina, and California. The book also provides an approach for evaluating family group conference programs, along with case studies of evaluation practice.
