PROGRAM GUIDE - American Humane Association

Honouring the Circle, Connections and Wisdom
The Family Group
Conference: “An idea in
search of practice”
Michael Doolan, American Humane
Association Fellow,
Christchurch, New Zealand
Michael Doolan is a Fellow with American Humane Association. He has
an extensive policy, management and practice background in the New
Zealand child protection, child welfare and youth justice systems. He has
practiced as a field and residential social worker and supervisor, managed
national residential programs, and managed a comprehensive program
to move care services from institutional to community settings during
the 1980s. He led youth justice reform in New Zealand, which included
introducing the FGC in the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act
(1989)—a procedure also included in the care and protection processes of
that Act.
From 1994 to 2001, Mike was the chief social worker for the New Zealand
statutory child welfare agency, the Department of Child, Youth and
Family. His focus in recent years has been on practice development in
statutory child welfare services, overseeing the development of strategies
and supports required for effective delivery, and participating in the
development of policies that kept the Department at the leading edge of
international developments in child welfare. During 1999, Mike consulted
with the Minister of State for Children in the Republic of Ireland and was
later an external consultant to the Republic’s development of a National
Strategy for Children. He has assisted with FGC development in Canada,
England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland,
Denmark, Sweden, and The Netherlands.
10:30 – 10:45 a.m.
Break
10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Workshops and
Discussion Groups
Engaging Children and
Youth in Family Conferences:
Ensuring Their Voices are
Heard . . . from Start to Finish
TRACK 1
Innovative Practices and Developments
LEVEL
Foundational
Connie Folkins and Mark Laforge, Province of New Brunswick, Department
of Social Development, Fredericton, NB, Canada
How do you engage children and youth in FGCs? If they are truly the
focus of this collaborative intervention, the presence and voices of our
youth must be felt and heard from the start of the process, up to and
including the day of the conferences, and in any follow-up that may
occur. This workshop will focus on direct practice strategies used in the
Province of New Brunswick to engage youth of all ages in FGCs. Particular
emphasis will be given to strategies in which the child/youth’s “voice”
has been present on the day of the conference. Samples of these creative
approaches will be shared. Participants will have the opportunity to
discuss their own experiences in engaging children and youth in FGCs.
1 st Canadian Conference for Family Group Conferencing 9