Family group conferencing/teaming is a critical component of concurrent planning practice.  Many states are implementing conferencing, as a key family engagement strategy that bring families together to meet with the child welfare agency, community providers and significant individuals in their lives who can support them in making the best decisions for their children.   Two approaches are being used wFidely across the United States:  Family Group Decision Making/Family Group Conferencing (FGDM) and Team Decision-making (TDM).   A number of states have developed other approaches to shared planning and decision making with families  that blend the features of different models. 

In the Family Engagement: A Web-Based Practice Toolkit
one of the core principles is shared planning and decision making which identifies promising practices and gives state specific examples and resources.

Guidelines for Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) in Child Welfare
American Humane, in partnership with the FGDM Guidelines Committee, released this landmark publication. They hope that these guidelines will not only facilitate greater understanding of FGDM, but will also promote solid practice in the U.S. and abroad. This publication covers topics such as: The FGDM Coordinator, Referral to FGDM, Preparation, Family Meetings, Follow-Up After Family Meetings, and Administrative Support.

Critical Elements for Family Team Decision Making
This issue brief by Advocates for Children and Youth describes the family-centered case practice that Maryland is implementing to enable more families to safely keep their own children and keep more children out of foster homes or group care. It reviews some of the essential elements of a credible plan to expand family-centered case practice in Maryland, including: the establishment of one and only one uniform, family-centered case practice model; the utilization of the best practices of partnering with families, including: teaming, engaging, assessing, planning, and intervening; strong team facilitation; well-trained caseworkers; well-trained supervisors; implementation of Quality Service Reviews; development of training and coaching capacity; logistical planning for team meetings; identification of best services for individual families; a rollout strategy; engagement of everyone involved in the court process and the various community members who will serve on teams or provide services; policies and personnel evaluations; external assistance; the identification of case practice as the priority; and budgeting for creating the capacity to do family centered-case practice.

Dads and Paternal Relatives: Using Family Group Decision Making to Refocus the Child Welfare System on the Entire Family Constellation

This American Human Issues in Brief discusses how FGDM can help refocus the child welfare system on the entire family, including dads and paternal relatives.

California Team Meetings

Monterey County Permanency Conference
A permanency conference is a meeting for and about youth in long-term foster care. The meeting is youth-driven and is held to help youth think about their short-term and long-term goals.
Monterey Permanency Conference Policy & Procedures (MS WORD)

San Luis Obispo County Permanency Team Meeting Policy
The goal of a Permanency Team Meeting (PTM) is to identify and establish permanent connections for a child/youth. PTMs are a forum for child/youth empowerment and engagement in a team setting. PTMs honor and encourage the child's/youth's voice in discussion of life domains, exploration of options and resources and planning that will impact permanency options.
SLO Permanency Team Meeting Policy

San Luis Obispo County Team Meetings
Describes each of the team meetings used by the county: team decision making meetings, permanency team meetings, and life team meetings; and who should attend them.
SLO Team Meetings (MS WORD)

Solano Youth Permanency Team Meeting Process
Solano County workers describe their process and lessons learned as they hold permanency team meetings for one of their youth.
Solano Youth Permanency Team Meeting Process (MS WORD)

Sonoma County Gathering the Team Meeting
Meeting outline and checklist for initial permanency team meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to assign tasks and begin to form a working team that will function to assist the youth towards permanency.
Sonoma Gathering the Team Meeting (MS WORD)

• Family Group Decision Making Models for Social Workers in the Child Welfare Setting
  This curriculum from the California Social Work Education Center introduces the Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM) model of working with families in child welfare and is based on a core belief that within families lies the wisdom to find solutions to protect their own children and resolve other issues of concern. In addition to lecture content, modules include instructional guides and suggestions, interactive exercises, topics for discussions, video and other resource suggestions, and a pre- and posttest instrument with answer sheet. An appendix of handouts, workshop evaluation form, references, and list of information sources and resources are included.
  
  
• Family Team Meeting Training - Participant's Guide and Trainer's Guide Outline
  Curriculum materials from the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services.
  
  
• Introduction to Family Group Decision Making, Parts I
  Introduction to Family Group Decision Making, Parts II
  Part I of this training from the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program introduces the foundations of the FGDM practice and prepares participants to begin planning for implementation and participate successfully in FGDM. Part II is a three-day workshop to prepare participants to serve as coordinators, facilitators and other critical partners for the FGDM Process and give participants the opportunity to practice the skills needed to perform effectively in these roles.