ABSTRACT
The Australian state of New South Wales has initiated several family group conference or, as they are more formally called, family decision-making projects in different areas of the state. The project was established by Burnside, the welfare arm of the Uniting Church, in conjunction with the Department of Community Services (DoCS), which jointly funded the implementation and the evaluation. Criteria for the referral of cases to the family decision-making project were jointly prepared by Burnside and the DoCS. Responsibility for organizing family decision-making conferences and doing most of the preparation work lies with the Burnside family decision-making facilitator. This includes liaising with the departmental worker to obtain background information and establish the department's "bottom line," contacting agencies that may be able to offer services to the family, and tracing and contacting family members and informing them about the family decision-making process.
