Letting the family speak about violence: Research findings on family group conference use in domestic violence

Abstract

This paper concerns findings from a demonstration project carried out in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada (Table I1) in which family group conferences were used to intervene into situations of family violence. In short, families were invited to consider how best to halt all the violence in their family, including abuse and neglect of children but also any abuse or neglect of adults in the family. The project was co-managed and co-evaluated by Dr. Joan Pennell, now of North Carolina State University. This article does not focus in detail on the model itself or the way New Zealand's approach to using family group conferences was adapted. We were, however, quite faithful to that model, including the use of private family time (Table II - Stages of Family Group Conference). Some important modifications are noted, especially those related to the safety of family members during the referral, preparation process, the conference itself, and the stage of follow-up after the conference.