Participants’ Satisfaction With Family Involvement Meetings

Abstract

Bivariate and logistics regression analyses were conducted to examine the effectiveness of child welfare agencies' Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM) practices focused on strengthening families and positive outcomes for children. This study evaluates one mid-Atlantic state's implementation of a FGDM called family involvement meetings (FIMs) to improve family strengths and their active engagement in the service planning process. Methods: Through use of a FIM Feedback Survey, participants provided satisfaction feedback on the general FIM process and what factors are associated with their satisfaction and decision-making at the meeting. Results: Multiple factors of participant's engagement, incorporating family strengths, and the FIM facilitator's knowledge and skills had significant impacts on the participant's decision-making and overall FIM satisfaction score. Discussion: This study will contribute to examining FGDM facilitators' practices and effective outcomes of FIMs to improve the well-being, safety, and permanency outcomes for children and their families.

Measuring Family-Centered Practice in Child Welfare

“…To facilitate shared resources and responsibilities, an essential step is to respect the culture of the family, acknowledge family strengths, and involve family members in the decision-making process. Emerging research has shown that implementing family-centered practice increases family’s satisfaction with services (Ahn et al, 2018), helps fulfill children and families’ short-term goals (Xu et al, 2017), and prevents child maltreatment (DePanfilis & Dubowitz, 2005). Although family-centered practice has been widely implemented in the United States, there is a lack of valid and reliable measures to capture child welfare workers’ family-centered practices.…”