Attending to Context: Family Group Decision-making in Canada (From Family Group Conferences: Perspectives on Policy and Practice, P 206-220, 1996, Joe Hudson, Allison Morris, et al, eds. - See NCJ-161303)

• NCJ Number: 161314
• Author(s): J Pennell; G Burford
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

Preliminary findings are presented from the Family Group Decisionmaking Project, a pilot implementation of family group conferencing as a method of case processing and decisionmaking in cases of domestic assault in three culturally distinct regions of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Abstract

The project sites were Nain, an Inuit community; the Port au Port Peninsula, a rural region with people of French, English, and Micmac ancestry; and St. Johns, the provincial capital settled mainly by the British and Irish. The projects involved cases of child abuse and cases involving adult victims of domestic violence. An analysis of 20 family group conferences revealed that family members considered the conference a success when they were able to use the process to move from a sense of personal shame and helplessness to family pride and efficacy. The conferences affirmed the links across the family groups and enabled them to make plans that emphasized supports for caring to come from the family, the community, and the government. The conferences also reaffirmed responsibilities in a manner sensitive to the families' cultures, histories, and situations. 17 references