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8.9 Family Meetings with Kin

Throughout this practice guide, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the use of family meetings. Family meetings should be taking place from the first family contact through the end of service, when permanency is achieved. The reader of the guide is encouraged to revisit the relevant sections of this guide for tips on convening the family meeting.

With the kinship network the family meeting takes on a slightly different flavor. Workers should be particularly sensitive to these changes. Even though the worker takes the lead in setting up this meeting, he or she is in fact walking into a preexisting family system. While the worker has authority and information related to the formal system of care, the family is the expert on their system. They know the strengths, weaknesses, leaders, and followers and, in many cases, may possess the resources to solve problems.

Conducting Family Meetings

• Introduce yourself and greet each person, welcoming them to the meeting. If the meeting is being conducted in the home of family members, thank these family members for allowing you to meet with them in their home.
• Define the purpose of the meeting and your role.
• Ask family members if they understand the purpose of the meeting and clarify any misunderstandings.
• Explain that you would like to hear from each person attending the meeting; during the meeting ensure that you ask the opinions of each person in the room.
• Ensure that persons are able to speak uninterrupted.
• If differences of opinion emerge between family members, ask them to discuss their different points of view.
• Respect the opinions of every person participating in the meeting. Ask family members to attempt to understand and respect the opinions of persons with whom they disagree.
• If disagreements become heated, ask family members if they believe it is possible to resolve the disagreements and what steps need to be taken to do so.
• Attempt to develop a common goal. If a common goal is not reachable in one meeting, develop a plan for subsequent meetings to develop a common goal.
• With family members, identify the obstacles that must be overcome to achieve the goal.
• Develop with family members a plan for overcoming these obstacles, specifying each participating family member's role, tasks to be completed, and time lines for accomplishment.
• Develop a plan for evaluating which tasks have been completed, which obstacles have been overcome and which goals have been achieved.
• Work with family members to revise the plan when necessary.
• Engender hope in the family, being as positive and hopeful as is truthful in discussing the likelihood of accomplishing their goals, and involving the family in discussing their strengths from their perspective and your own. (Adapted, Bonecutter & Gleeson, 1997)

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