Child and Family Social Work 2003, 8, pp 331–340 © 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 331 Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKCFSChild and Family Social Work1365-2206Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003November 200384331340Original ArticleFamily group conferences in child welfare practice in the UKL Brown Correspondence: Louise Brown, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK E-mail: L.Brown@bath.ac.uk Keywords: child welfare practice, family group conferences, partnership Accepted for publication: July 2003 Mainstream or margin? The current use of family group conferences in child welfare practice in the UK Louise Brown Lecturer in Social Work, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK ABSTRACT A decade has passed since family group conferences were initially introduced into the UK by Family Rights Group. Ten years on, this paper examines the extent to which family group conferences have developed and become embedded into current social work practice. Despite the initial interest by social work practitioners and the pic- ture often painted of a growing radical movement, the degree to which family group conferencing has become part of mainstream practice has until now remained fairly anecdotal. A number of diffi- culties have been identified with implementing the model, including fitting it into an existing system and the challenge it poses to profes- sionals to hand over power. Two surveys, the first undertaken in 1999 and the second in 2001, describe the current use of the model in the UK by Councils with Social Services Responsibilities (Councils). The surveys reveal the areas of practice within which family group con- ferences are being used, the size and capacity of projects and why some Councils have adopted the model whilst others remain hesitant. It concludes by considering why family group conferences remain on the margins of practice. INTRODUCTION In 1991 Family Rights Group helped establish the first family group conferencing pilot projects in the UK. The family group conference model, originating from New Zealand and enshrined within their legis- lation, offered social workers a new and radical approach to planning for children. It aimed to involve immediate and extended family members in the plan- ning and decisions that needed to be taken about the needs of children within their family (for a detailed description of the model and the way it operates in practice see Morris & Tunnard 1996). The appeal of the model lay in its apparent simplicity and its poten- tial to empower families to work in partnership with social work agencies. The model attracted widespread interest from social work practitioners and managers across the UK, a process that was simultaneously occurring in many other countries. In 1989 projects developed across the United States that used some of the principles of family group con- ferencing and family participation. The family group conference approach was soon to receive the support of the American Humane Association, which set out to actively promote the use of the model across the US (American Humane Association 2003). At the same time interest in the model was growing in Aus- tralia, with their first family group conference pilot project being established in 1992. Throughout the 1990s family group conferencing, as a decision- making model, continued to spread to Canada and into countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Israel. In 2000, family group conferencing was described by Whittaker as ‘the most intriguing child welfare innovation to arise in the last quarter century’ (Burford & Hudson 2000, p. xii). However, the development and implementation of the family group conference model in New Zealand and the UK could not have been more different, despite both countries introducing new legislation to protect children in 1989. The New Zealand Children, Young People and Their Families Act 1989 and the