Family Group Conferences - Find a freedom of information request

I would like to make a request under the freedom of information act to obtain information regarding the use of family group conferences within your children's services and would be grateful for the following information please:

1.Are holding Family Group Conferences a standard part of your process?

2.How many Family Group Conferences do you hold on average a month?

3.What would you consider the success rate of the Family Group Conferences to be (with success being that the child is not placed in care etc.)?

1. Yes Family Group Conference is part of the process for pre-proceedings and all cases where proceedings are issued a family group conference is offered to all families and would hope that their solicitor would support this. FGC is considered in all cases with a status of Child Protection (CP) and Child in Need (CIN) where the family need to look at their own solutions to the presenting concerns. Within Lincolnshire the social workers also hold family network meetings initially with the family and if this needs further exploration with the wider network an FGC request is made.

2. LCC doesn't currently hold the data for how many Family Group Conferences are held each month; our performance team are currently looking at developing these reports.

3. LCC does not hold this information currently but our performance team are currently developing reports. Our conversion rate from referral to a plan has always been high at around 67%