Larimer County Site Visit Summary
January 24-25, 2012
Family Meeting Models and Use
Model
Family Safety and
Resource Team
Meetings (FSRT)
Timing
-held early in the life
of a case
-time slots set aside
weekly; workers can
reserve a slot when
needed
Preparation Roles
-caseworkers do all
preparation (invite
family members,
schedule meetings)
-2 hours of prep
time per meeting
Family Unity
Meetings (FUM)
Purpose
-emergencies/crises
-placement issue
-immediate safety
planning
-mandated referral for
moderate-high risk cases
-most agency driven
-derived from FTM
model
-ongoing planning
-to check-in
-2 weeks from
referral to meeting
-anytime in life of a
case
Family Group
Conference (FGC)
-prepare for case closure
-mostly family driven
-weeks between
referral and
conference
-facilitators and
workers do meeting
preparation
-1-2 hours of prep
time per meeting
-most time intensive
(10-20 hours of
preparation/meeting)
-face-to-face
contacts with all
invitees preferable
Other meeting type:
Family Assessment
and Planning
Meetings (FAPT)
-for youth entering or at
risk to enter residential
treatment
-multidisciplinary
meetings
-to build support for
youth aging out of foster
care
Other meeting type:
Circles of Support
Practice notes:

Facilitators stay with cases for the life of a case (same facilitator for each meeting type)
Focus group themes:
Family Meeting Process
Preparation

There is lack of clarity at the worker level around whether family members can be
invited to certain types of family meetings without Mom/primary caregiver’s
permission.
o Some believe that when the Department has custody, there aren’t any
restrictions on making contact with a child’s extended family or other
Larimer County Site Visit Summary




January 24-25, 2012
collaterals, and if they don’t have custody, a release of information has to
be secured.
FGCs are harder for facilitators to set-up than other types of meetings
o May lead to referral for FUMs instead
Facilitators and their supervisor are accommodating
Challenge: scheduling meetings to accommodate all participant/family member
schedules
o Often need to be held after-hours
Workers unclear and/or untrained in how to present family meetings (FSRTs) to
families, especially when they are mandated
Meeting






Meetings are more successful when there are more family supports present
A benefit of meetings is that the agency has the opportunity to share consistent
information with the family group, and all parties can get on the same page.
Some workers and community members feel that things are discussed in family
meetings that children should not hear or be present for
New workers experience anxiety over attending family meetings and may feel
inadequately trained to participate
o Coaches and supervisors are available to attend with workers
Genograms are created with families in many meetings
o Aid in family finding
o Serve as lead-in to asking about family culture
Facilitators are skilled and do a good job of remaining neutral
Follow-up

There is a lack of Spanish-speaking services and services that work with
undocumented clients in the county
General




Most critical community stakeholders of family meetings are GALs (FGCs in particular)
o Therapists and parent lawyers have also been critical of family meetings and/or
challenging to incorporate into the model
Caseworkers are resistant to being told to have meetings or mandated to refer
There is concern that the agency may impose white, middle class norms on families of
different backgrounds, such as Latino families and not respond in culturally responsive
ways.
Staff are doing a better job asking families about cultural and race than used to but still
see room for improvement
Larimer County Site Visit Summary




January 24-25, 2012
o Staff not sure how to ask questions about race and/or culture.
o Staff not sure what to do with information gathered from conversations about race
and/or culture.
Turnover makes it hard to keep workers trained in family meetings
More experience with family meetings is associated with more positive perception of
family meetings at the worker level
Workers may have family meetings themselves (without a facilitator) if scheduling is a
problem, to avoid opening a case in intake, or because they don’t like the facilitator that
has been assigned
Meetings are not happening as much in FAR cases
o Recent policy changes (mandating referrals for moderate risk cases) may change
this