Family Team Conferences in Domestic Violence Cases: Guidelines for Practice

Source: (2003) 2nd edition. Kelly Mitchell-Clark, ed. San Francisco, CA: Family Violence Prevention Fund. Downloaded 5 May 2004.

As noted at the beginning of this document, family team conferencing and other similar family conference models involve family and community members in decision-making and case-planning to provide safety for children and other family members in child maltreatment cases. Roughly half of all families experiencing child maltreatment also experience domestic violence. Therefore, a large percentage of families who are possible candidates for family team conferences will have a history of domestic violence. Intended for trained facilitators and other participants in family team conferences, this document presents a set of guidelines to decide whether a family with such a history is a good candidate for a family team conference. It also assists in the preparation and conduct of such a conference. Case scenarios offer examples of different circumstances dealt with in conferences and ways to deal with those situations.