Team 1: Family Group Conferencing

This team was originally configured to deal with 2 elements in combination - Family Group Conferencing and Kinship. An early decision was made to shift the focus exclusively to Family Group Conferencing, primarily due to the complexity of that issue. A later decision was made that as the work on Family Group Conferencing proceeds, we (the team and the ILF) should consider whether it makes sense for this team to then expand its focus to include Kinship and Concurrent Planning - given that all 3 elements are seen as interdependent strategies and that they all reside on the "Strategies for Permanence" prong of the "Pitchfork". We recognized that if it is decided to expand the focus of this team, there will be a need to consider whether different resources are needed. 

Second Draft Objective Statement

It is the objective of this team to reach a consensus position on the Family Group Conferencing strategy. This consensus must consider and reflect the shared values and policy statement generated by the ILF, as well as all of the materials and approaches being used by our partner counties. 

It is not the objective of this team to agree on a single approach, methodology, practice or procedure. Rather, it is our objective to extract, from all the various information and expertise available, a definitive position that can be adopted and embraced by the ILF, and can form the definitive basis for this element within Ohio CLA model. The position should clearly articulate those things that we all agree on - the fundamentals that we believe must be integrated, regardless of the specific approach or procedure applied. It should also isolate differences and variations in a way that helps broaden our understanding of the benefits of each difference, the criteria under which each different approach might be suggested, and the relationship of each difference to the core, fundamental elements described above. 

Finally, specific attention should be given to a full compilation of available information on the access to and development of the resources required to effectively integrate Family Group Conferencing. 

The Team has full authority to proceed as it sees fit within the context of the objective, but will present its work to the ILF monthly where it will be subject to challenge, critique, and feedback. While the ILF has the final authority, the relationship between these 2 groups is envisioned as one where the ILF provides strategic direction and team determines the tactical activities required to accomplish the objective.

While not part of the formal objective, it may be helpful to use the following analogy to help communicate the objective of this team. Consider the notion of a "Master Recipe" which offers the  essential ingredients and the basic instruction for preparation. The master recipe clearly communicates the "Big Picture" of the dish - roughly what it is, the basic ingredients needed, how its cooked, what it goes well with, etc. Then, more sophisticated cookbooks offer variations to the master recipe which can be integrated into to the master recipe depending on many variables. This construct may be useful as we struggle to accomplish our task. 

B. Team Membership 

Changes to the objective and the scope of this team resulted in some membership changes during the 2-day December ILF. The current team is as follows:

Emergency Contact Information

Joanne    Pager (330) 723-9398

Ed    (440) 964-3699    (330) 792-5501    edbell@yahoo.com

Jeff    (419) 462-1184    vinnie@bright.net

Kim    Pager (330) 626-0202    (330) 876-7507    rubleka@aol.com

Kelly     (740) 432-7552

Andrea    (440) 572-1584    chrys@odjfs.state.oh.us   

Susan     (937)    767-7599    salberter@aol.com

Gordon (740) 450-0907    bghay@aldenleadership.com