Outcomes of family group conferencing in Sweden. A 3-year follow-up.
OBJECTIVE
Between 1995 and 1997, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities implemented Family Group Conferences (FGC) in 10 local authorities throughout Sweden. This study reports on client outcomes of this implementation.


METHODS
97 children involved in 66 FGCs between November 1996 and October 1997 were compared with 142 children from a random sample of 104 traditional child protection investigations by the Child Protective Services (CPS). All children were followed for exactly 3 years for future child maltreatment events reported to CPS. Effects were modeled using multiple regressions, controlling for the child's age, gender, family background, and type and severity of problems.


RESULTS
After controlling for initial differences, FGC-children experienced higher rates of re-referral to CPS compared to the group that had been processed in traditional investigations. They were more often re-referred due to abuse, were more often re-referred by the extended family, were longer in out-of-home placements, but tended over time to get less intrusive support from the CPS. FGCs were not related to re-referrals of neglect, of case-closure after 3 years or number of days of received services. The results suggest that the impact of the FGC was scant, accounting for 0-7% of the statistical variance of outcome variables.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings did not support the alleged effectiveness of the FGC model compared to traditional investigations in preventing future maltreatment cases. If these results are confirmed in future research, they serve as a reminder of the necessity to evaluate models based on untested theories or on extrapolations from other countries/cultures, before these models are widely spread in a national practice context.
Sundell
Knut
K
Unit for Research and Development, Social Services Administration, Stockholm, Sweden.
Vinnerljung
Bo
B
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003376:Counseling; D003657:Decision Making; D005195:Family Relations; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric / Q000379:methods; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome