European Network on Family Group Conference
Family is asked to make a plan first
Parental ignorance or lack of support?
Anna’s story provides some insight…
Five-year-old Anna and her four-year-old brother are growing up with temporary foster parents. According to social workers, the parents only contacted the children by phone throughout the year and showed no interest in meeting them in person.
However, when the FGC coordinator visited the parents, she discovered a different picture – the parents, who were currently homeless, talked about their beloved children, and photographs of the children hung on the walls of the modest room of their relatives where they met. It turned out that their interest in their children had never disappeared, but they lacked the support to establish contact. They often did not have money for a phone, let alone for a trip to see them.
During FGC preparations, the coordinator approached the extended family and foster parents and managed to organize FGC. This became a key moment – for the first time in a long time, everyone met at one table. The family was looking for support together and planned the next steps, starting with restoring bonds with the children. Everyone present exchanged contact details with the foster parents and agreed on the first visits that very day.
Since then, there has been regular contact and the children spend some weekends with their family. Although the parents are still dealing with a difficult housing situation and do not yet have the conditions to take the children back into their care, the conference has succeeded in restoring and strengthening family bonds.
Anna’s story reminds us that most parents love their children—they just often lack the resources (not only financial) and support to stay in touch with them. FGC can be a bridge that helps parents find their way back to their children and reminds us that every family has resources, but sometimes they need to be rediscovered.
A story from the Czech Republic
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