Family Group Conferencing Worldwide: Part Three in a Series, Laurie Mirsky, International Institue for Restorative Practices; provides a detailed description of two FGC programs in Ireland, one that encompasses both child welfare family FGC and restorative school group conferences, project involving child welfare and family violence (influenced by the Family Decision-Making project of Newfoundland Labrador); a Minnesota based project using conferences in schools based on the Real Justice model, and a FGC program in operation since 1998 at the George Hull Centre for Children and Families in Toronto, Canada. Finally the report describes a four-year child welfare project, training families and introducing FGC to North Carolina by Joan Pennell, and an fervant argument by Gale Burford for keeping FGC programs alive.
Learning with Families: A Synopsis of FGDM Research and Evaluation in Child Welfare, Lisa Merkel-Holquin,MSWBurford,Paul Nixon, BA (Hons) CQSW;and Gale Burford, MSW, PhD, National Centre of Family Decision-Making, American Humane Association, provides a summary of themes and findings from the more than 25 FGDM research and evaluative studies.
Long Term and Immediate Outcomes of Family Group Conferencing in Washington State , Nancy Shore, Judith Wirth, Katharine Cahn, Briana Yancey, Karin Gunderson, International Institue for Restorative Practices; a long-term follow-up study of FGC presenting the findings of 70 family FGC conducted in Washington State involving138 children. The study found that FGC resulted in high rates of reunification with parents or placement with relatives and low rates of re-referral to child protection.
In Texas, USA following several successful pilot projects, FGC is used in 58 counties, (Texas Department of Family & Protective Services, Final Evaluation October, 2006