Family group conferencing for children and families: Evaluation of implementation, context and effectiveness (Family VOICE)

Family group conferences (FGCs) in child welfare bring immediate and wider family members together to decide on the best way to meet a child’s needs. Qualitative and mixed-method research with FGC participants tend to show positive experiences. Although there is existing literature on FGCs, there is a paucity of robust comparative UK evaluations.

The aims of this study are, to establish how FGCs improve outcomes for families and what factors vary their quality, and, secondly, to assess longer-term outcomes in terms of service use and associated costs. Given the importance of process and context, an evaluation informed by realist and complex systems approaches is needed.

The goal of the economic evaluation is to estimate the costs, the cost-effectiveness and the cost-consequences of Family group conferences.