Family Group Conferences and Discourse Ethics in Child Welfare Work

Abstract

Family group conferences (FGC) in child welfare (CW) services is a working model that has received much attention since the early 2000s. The basic idea in the model is that the families themselves should find solutions to challenges in their children’s care situation, so that professional CW workers act more as facilitators than decision-makers. In academic literature, FGC have been linked to discourse ethics – the idea that shared knowledge and arguments for and against alternative courses of action should underlie decisions, so that power relations and roles are downplayed. At the same time, the link between discourse ethics and FGC has not been discussed in depth. The aim of the chapter is to explore the link further. I first argue that discourse ethics is incompatible with FGC if CW workers use normative CW principles to lay down premises for what counts as ‘good’ courses of action or ‘appropriate’ information and arguments. However, FGC can be used in a more neutral way that better fits discourse ethical ideals. This can be done if legitimate use of power or professional intervention happens independently of the dialogue in FGC. In fact, this possibility is acknowledged in FGC guidelines that allow CW workers to set aside families’ preferences if they conflict with principles of safety for children. I argue, more generally, that discourse ethics can often be an ideal for professional communication and cooperation in FGC. Discourse ethics can help prevent and solve conflicts, and help exploit the potential of dialogue towards agreement. At the same time, there are tensions between discourse ethics and some forms of CW work, which make it problematic to implement discourse ethics as a general ideal in FGC and other forms of communication with families.