Family Group Conference is an Opportunity for Children, Families and Specialists Maria Petkova, Tulip Foundation, Bulgaria

Tulip Foundation Mission: to encourage social responsibility by enhancing co-operation among civil society, corporate sector and the state to improve the quality of life and developmental opportunities for the people.

Social work Social work is work on relations.

Relations among people are east to break not easy to maintain very hard to restore…

Good relations are based on: Trust Equal base Mutual understanding and care They take time.

That’s what FGC makes possible. FGC is an elegant friendly practical everyday way of helping people to maintain, improve, revive, heal, strengthen their relations because the most important relations that we have are those with our parents, children, grandparents, cousins … our families!

How do we know that FGC is the answer? We support social projects for more than 20 years - some 850 projects around the country; We monitor and evaluate these projects; We are looking to find out the social impact; We speak with professionals, children, parents, older people, mayors, community leaders, youth …

We know well that social services for children and families are based on a menu of existing services provided by specialists who decide on the place, the time, the frequency of available support

We hear from specialists that working with families is very important, but very difficult - they are not interested, not involved, not present, difficult to find, don’t have capacity, are not responsible, don’t understand …

We also know that: Father and mother have no price! Money can buy a family! Blood is thicker than water! Krov nie voda! - in Croatia

We know that FGC is an opportunity as it is a simple down to Earth way for finding a solution to various problems poverty disability unemployment moving to a new place …

We know that FGC is an opportunity as - we have 10 local partners - working in circa 30 municipalities - 70 -75 FGC per year -7- 8 members of the family in each FGC

We know that FGC is an opportunity as - 5 years ago we started with children, now – older people, adults with disabilities - violence, challenging behavior - universal access + specialized services

FGC is an opportunity: Families are able to make and implement their plans Empowers children, parents, families and communities

Children Every child has the right to receive support in maintaining kinship and cultural connections Support and relations within the family are crucially important for children It enables participation of children and young people

Children Provides children with a practical decision making role model in the family Accessible in the community and applicable for all kind of problems Encourages responsibility since early age

Families Children and parents are nested in a wider family system Families are entitled the right to be respected by institutions and professionals The family group is the context of the problem and of the solution Family groups are capable to speak for themselves

Families It works with different families regardless ethnic, religious or cultural background, educational, social or material status in big cities and small comminutes FGC helps in different situations – poverty, disability, illness, addictions, violence …

Families Ensures practical involvement of fathers (significant male figures) in life of children It strengthens the connections within the family It’s a practical democratic way of keeping the decision making and the responsibility within the family

Families Families know themselves best

Communities Works in different communities - regardless ethnic, religious or cultural traditions Encourages responsibility, community development and civil engagement Fellow citizen as coordinator It is possible to find / train them in each community Community meeting

Specialists FGC allows to combine two different systems – the institutions and the family system Helps to mobilise the necessary resources in the right moment in adequate way FGC provides friendly way to engage parents and families Also children, young people, members of the wider family, friends, neighbors, colleagues …

Specialists The family makes the plan and takes responsibility to implement and follow it The family circle contributes a lot of resources for the plan FGC can be applied for prevention, intervention and crisis intervention It’s financially effective

Specialists “FGC works for everyone” – Tim Fisher, London Borough of Camden FGC Service Manager Don’t need to organise it Only need to have trust in colleagues and families

Trust in children and families creates responsibility and independence! Thank you for your attention! Tulip Foundation www.tulipfoundation.net