Evaluation report on phase one of the family group conference pilot project for the East Coast Area Health Board

This report has been commissioned to appraise and draw together the main findings of Phase One of a Pilot Project on Family Group Conferences (FGCs) in Ireland. The pilot project was conducted in three community care areas of the Eastern Health Board (EHB), now the East Region Health Authority (ERHA), over the period May 1999 to June 2000

The project was concerned with introducing and operating Family Group Conferences (FGCs), as originally developed and used in New Zealand and now in more widespread use, in an Irish legal, organisational and professional context.

The report describes the FGC process and the pilot project in depth. It contains details of the Conferences held as part of the Pilot Project as well as the views of the multiple participants involved. The report analyses and presents findings and recommendations in respect of the evaluation questions set by the Project Management Committee. The report also presents a revised and updated version of Good Practice Guidelines which were developed and used in the training phase of the pilot, and which take account of the views of participants and the main findings and recommendations.