Family Team Meetings

For the purpose of keeping children safe, promoting children's well-being and supporting families.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

Family Team Meetings bring together a family and interested friends, neighbors and community members, with resources from child welfare, mental health, schools, and other helping agencies. These interested parties work together to learn what the family hopes to accomplish, set realistic goals, identify the family's needs, find solutions that build on the family's strengths, make a plan for who will do what and when, and agree on the next steps.

• Building Trust. The facilitator explains the family team meeting process and addresses any questions the family may have about the meeting. The facilitator meets with the family to listen and help tell their story, understand their concerns and goals, and hear what they hope to accomplish at the meeting.
• Identifying Team Members.  With the facilitator's help, the family decides which supportive friends and community resources they would like to have at the meeting.
• Preparing the Family Team. The facilitator works with team members to reach an agreement on how they will participate and what they can offer the family. Team members help identify the family's strengths and remain positive and productive.
• Working With the Team. During the meeting, the facilitator helps the team create a strength-based plan for making agreed-upon changes. All of this is done in an atmosphere of respect.
• Maintaining the Family Team. After the family team meeting, the facilitator will help the team carry out the plan and track progress. The family or team members can call for a follow-up team meeting at any time if any part of the plan is not working or if other concerns develop.

WHAT A FAMILY TEAM MEETING LOOKS LIKE

• Welcome: Everyone introduces themselves.
• Ground Rules, Confidentiality, Family Goals and Family Perspective: The facilitator will discuss things to remember during the meeting, such as one person speaks at a time. The facilitator will emphasize confidentiality and provide an agreement that everyone must sign. The family will talk about the goals they want to work on and share their views on the goals.
• Identification of Strengths and Needs of the Family: All involved will identify the strengths and needs of the family and how these relate to the family goals.
• Creating a Family Plan: Everyone will list steps and resources that may help achieve the family plan goals. This plan will detail what will be done, who will do it and when it will be accomplished. There will be goals that must be part of the plan to ensure the child's safety.

WHY FAMILY TEAM MEETINGS?

• People are capable of change, and most find solutions within themselves, especially when they are helped in a caring manner.
• All people and families have strengths. Strengths are discovered and affirmed when people are recognized, listened to, respected and encouraged.
• Families are more invested in plans they help create.
• Solutions generated with a team are more likely to address the family's unique strengths and needs.
• Support from family and friends can be just as beneficial and necessary as professional and institutional support.
• Family and friends provide love and caring in a way no formal system can.
• When you bring together caring people during a family team meeting, the energy fuels the engine of change.