Making sense of foster care: An evaluation of family group decision making in Kent County, Michigan.

Abstract

This is an evaluation of one community's efforts to develop an approach to placing children with relatives, based on a process called Family Group Decision Making (FGDM). The focus of FGDM is a plan for the care and protection of the children developed through a meeting of the children's extended family. This study considers the challenges of using FGDM to place children with extended family compared with regular foster care placement services. This evaluation analyzes 593 referrals to an FGDM program in Kent County, Michigan that were received from 1996--2000. Of these 593 referrals, 173 had a family meeting. This study includes information about which families were selected for FGDM, which families decided to try FGDM, and whether they developed plans for keeping children out of foster care. The FGDM cases compared favorably with cases served by the regular child welfare system in terms of additional contact with Children's Protective Services and placement stability. Children placed through FGDM were more likely to remain living with a relative who was their legal guardian compared with children placed through the regular foster care system who were more likely to be adopted. The study also demonstrates that the implementation of FGDM is very difficult, due to the ambiguous nature of the mandates in the child welfare field. These ambiguities include the criteria used to decide when to remove children from their parents and when to provide foster care payments to relatives caring for members of their own family. FGDM is a new approach in child welfare that provides opportunities to identify and discuss these ambiguities. The study suggests that FGDM works well when it creates an opportunity for diverse participants to meet and share their concerns and suggestions in ambiguous cases of child maltreatment.