Welcome - European Network on Family Group Conference

Jordan’s family

Jordan was 13 when he was initially referred to the Family Group Decision Making team to look at exploring the possibility of establishing some family connections. He had previously been in a kinship placement, but this had broken down, and he had had two further foster placements. His mum had sadly passed away, and he had never had a relationship with his dad who lived out of the area. Since moving into foster care, Jordan maintained a relationship with maternal family members, but didn’t have any connection to his paternal family.  

Jordan’s social worker contacted the FGDM team after meeting with his father, who was assessed as not being in a position to have direct contact with him at the current time. However, through this meeting, details of a paternal aunt had been established, who stated that she was keen to build a relationship with Jordan.  

Initially, I met with Jordan and spoke to him about the referral. It was clear that family was important to him, and that he wanted a sense of identity from knowing his family. We agreed that I would meet with his aunt, and feed back to him. He also spoke about an old neighbour that he would like to see, and also a couple that he used to stay with for respite care. We also spoke about creating a family tree for Jordan so he could clearly identify who was in his family.  

I met with Jordan’s Aunt Karen; his neighbour, Mary; and his previous carer, Jessica. All of them were really keen to see Jordan, and were willing to be “lifelong links”. Mary and Jessica spoke really fondly of Jordan, and had some lovely memories of him. When I spoke with Jordan about this, he was delighted, but wanted to keep the relationships separate, and not have a meeting with everybody. We arranged a meeting with his foster carer, Mary and Jessica, and they created a plan where they would meet up with Jordan on a monthly basis. Separately, Jordan started to see his aunt and, after a meeting, a plan was created for him to see her on a fortnightly basis. 

More recently, I have reached out to Jordan’s half-sibling, and he has met with them with a view to having a family meeting to establish more regular contact.  

Jordan is now 15, and he sees Mary and her family on a monthly basis; regularly goes to visit Jessica, and has ongoing contact with his Aunt Karen. All have been committed to him and he is enjoying all of the relationships. He has met his half-sibling, and speaks with them regularly.  

In addition to this, we created a family tree with the help of public records, and his sister and aunt filling in the blanks. Jordan was delighted with this, particularly finding out that he has Spanish heritage! The process has allowed him to develop his identity and find out lots more about his wider family.  

A story from Scotland