Supporting Families: investing in practice
Daybreak have been working alongside the DfE since 2015 developing our Family Group Conference (FGC) model to offer all families that receive a pre-proceedings letter from their local authority an opportunity of a FGC meeting. Early independent evaluation found that this use of FGC increased by 15% the number of children safely staying within their family network and decreased by 21% the number of cases going forward in to proceedings. It also registered high level of satisfaction from family and professional that participated in the FGC’s.
This has now been followed up by the DfE, who have commissioned an independent longer-term evaluation, looking at where the children are living 2 years after their FGC.
The purpose of the DfE innovations programme, when it was launched 4 years ago, was to identify promising practice that could be spread across England. This is now happening with the announcement of a £15 million investment to help keep families safely together. This new programme called, Supporting Families; Investing in Practice has been announced today and I am very pleased to say that the Daybreak FGC model alongside the Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDAC) are the programmes that have been selected for scale and spread.
The DfE launch of this, on GOV.UK, calls for expression of interest for up to 40 new areas to implement one or both these programmes and be part of their further evaluation. The successful Local Authorities will work in partnership with the What Works Centre and be supported by Daybreak FGC and FDAC.
During some of the most stressful periods of their lives, we have seen families come together in a Family Group Conference to make safe decisions for children at risk. The vast, majority took the opportunity and went on to make workable, safe and sustainable plans for their children, so it is wonderful we will have the opportunity to introduce the model across the country.
DfE PressRelease EOI_Supporting_Families_investing_in_practice
What we do
Daybreak is the country’s leading national voluntary organisation focused entirely on the delivery of family group conferences (FGCs) and related training.
Daybreak delivers programmes of the highest quality and aims for continuous service improvement, through:
- systematic monitoring and collection of feedback
- rigorous selection and training of staff, independent coordinators and volunteers
- inspiring individual and collective responsibility across the workforce
Our work is widely recognised as achieving great results for children, adults and their families whilst making significant cost savings for Local Authorities and other agencies.
Why use Daybreak?
Daybreak is at the forefront of FGC innovation and development, pioneering new approaches and the use of FGCs in new contexts.
Daybreak is influential in raising awareness of the benefits of FGCs and promoting their wider use nationally and internationally.
Daybreak plays a leading role in raising professional standards through the development and accreditation systems for FGC programmes and in capacity building through training of managers and practitioners and maintains a register of approved coordinators.
Daybreak actively seeks to advance knowledge about FGCs through its involvement in high quality research initiatives.
