This book is about the family group conference (FGC) approach to decision making in child welfare and protection. One of the central aims of FGCs is to empower children and their families via a process which enables their effective participation in decision making and by outcomes over which they have more control. Given growing international interest in FGCs, it is important that their development is underpinned by good quality research. The central aim of the book is to assess critically the available evidence on the empowerment potential of the FGC approach.

However, empowerment is an extremely slippery concept. Because of its appeal across the political spectrum, it is particularly important to be clear about the specific expectations and assumptions by which empowerment initiatives are underpinned. This book is therefore also more broadly about the meaning of empowerment in the contemporary child welfare context. In the face of the general clamour for ‘evidence-based practice’ it addresses the difficult question of how empowerment can be operationalised and its achievement assessed.