Family Group Conference: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Part of: Section 47 Report Explained: What Happens During Section 47 Enquiries?

A family group conference is a meeting where a child’s wider family and friends make their own plan to keep the child safe, after social services raise concerns. Since 15 July 2026, a council in England must offer this kind of family meeting before it applies to court for a care or supervision order, unless it considers a meeting would not be in the child’s best interests (Children Act 1989, s.31ZA). Our specialists in section 47 enquiries and social services cases assist and advise parents and relatives at each stage.

This guide is for parents and relatives who have received an invitation. We explain what happens on the day, who sits at the table and where families most often slip up. It covers the law in England and Wales and gives general information, not advice on your situation.

Reviewed by: Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist & Client Support, Kabir Family Law

What is a family group conference?

It is a meeting, run by a coordinator, where your family network makes a plan for a child when social services have concerns. Government guidance calls this approach family group decision-making and describes it as voluntary and family-led. The Department for Education does not insist on one model. However, it tells councils to consider the strong evidence for the conference model, which studies show can help divert children from care.

Parents often confuse it with two other meetings. Each one has a different purpose, so each needs different preparation.

Does the council now have to offer a family group decision-making meeting?

Yes, in most cases, if the council is in England. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, s.1 added section 31ZA to the Children Act 1989, and it came into force on 15 July 2026. It says that before a council applies for a care or supervision order, it must offer a family group decision-making meeting to the child’s parents and anyone else with parental responsibility.

If at least one of those people accepts, the council must hold the meeting before it goes to court. The offer has to appear in the letter before proceedings. But the duty does not apply where the council decides a meeting would not be in the child’s best interests. In that case, government guidance says the council should share the reason with parents (Families First Partnership programme guide, March 2026).

Beyond putting the offer in the letter before proceedings, the law does not say what the offer must contain. Government guidance fills some of the gap. The council should talk the offer through with you at the first pre-proceedings meeting and give you written information about the meeting, in a form you can follow, so you can make an informed choice.

The law does not name a model, so your council may give its meeting a different name. The duty also covers councils in England only. If you have received a pre-proceedings letter, read it closely for the offer and for what the council asks you to do next.

Who can come, and can your child take part?

The law calls the people at the table your child’s family network. It can include parents, anyone with parental responsibility, relatives, friends and other people connected with the child. Even so, the council decides who is appropriate to attend, with the child’s best interests in mind. If you are a grandparent, our guide to grandparents’ rights explains where you stand if the case later reaches court.

Your child may attend where the council thinks it right. The council must also find out your child’s wishes and feelings where it can, and give them due consideration for their age and understanding. Guidance lets the council keep someone out of the meeting if their presence would be unsafe. When that happens, the council may still ask for their views in another way.

How does the family group conference process work?

Each council runs the process its own way, but government guidance sets out the same basic stages. This is the usual order.

1. You receive the offer. A social worker explains it. If the council is heading towards court, the offer must also be in the letter before proceedings. Guidance says you should have enough time to think, including time to get legal advice.
2. The council appoints a coordinator. Guidance asks councils to consider someone with no earlier involvement or decision-making role in your family’s case.
3. Everyone gets ready. The coordinator meets you, your child where appropriate and each person invited. Together you agree who comes, the ground rules, and a date and place, ideally on neutral ground rather than a council office.
4. The meeting goes ahead. Social workers share their concerns and the bottom lines any plan must meet. Then the family talks alone and presents its plan. If the plan is lawful, safe and meets the key concerns, the council can agree it, and everyone who attended gets a copy.
5. Your family reviews the plan. You should get a formal chance to look at how the plan is working, what has changed and whether promised support has arrived.

Whose side is the family group conference coordinator on?

The coordinator is there to run a fair process, not to take a side. At the pre-proceedings stage, statutory guidance says councils should consider using an independent coordinator. In practice, the coordinator helps your family prepare, checks that everyone understands the purpose and keeps the meeting on track.

That said, the coordinator must put your child’s safety first. Guidance says that if the process turns up new information that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, the coordinator should tell the social worker straight away. So treat every conversation with the coordinator as one that social services could hear about.

What happens during private family time?

After the professionals set out their worries, they leave the room. Your family then has time to talk without them and build a plan, unless safety concerns make that unwise. This is the heart of the meeting, and it is also where many families find things hardest.

Old tensions can surface, and people may offer more than they can give. A strong plan answers each bottom line with names, times and back-up arrangements. Councils in the Families First Partnership programme can sometimes fund practical help too, such as a car seat so a relative can do the school run.

If a relative may care for the child, think about the legal side early. When the council looks after a child who cannot live with a parent or anyone else with parental responsibility, the law tells it to prefer a home with a relative, friend or other connected person who is also a council foster parent (Children Act 1989, s.22C(7)(a)). Our guides to kinship care, special guardianship orders and immediate placements with connected people explain the options.

Preparing for a family group conference: are you on track?

Use this short check before the meeting. It will not tell you what to agree. Instead, it shows where you may need help first.

What can go wrong for parents and relatives?

• Treating it as a chat. Statutory guidance says records of key discussions with the family at the pre-proceedings stage can be used as evidence of decision-making. Guidance also says the council’s decision about the offer should go into any court application for the judge to see.
• Promising more than you can keep. If a plan falls apart, the council may decide that court is the only safe route. Guidance describes pre-proceedings as the final opportunity for parents to avoid care proceedings.
• Getting the guest list wrong. The relative left off the list may be the one who could help most. On the other hand, the council may keep out someone it sees as unsafe, so raise any worries with the coordinator early.
• Waiting too long to reply. The council can withdraw the offer if it stops being in your child’s best interests, and it can still go to court at any stage if the risk grows.
• Running out of time later. Once a council applies, the court must aim to finish the case within 26 weeks, with extensions only where needed (Children Act 1989, s.32). That leaves little room to build a family plan from scratch.
• Mixing up the meetings. A family meeting does not replace a child protection conference. If you are unsure what social services are doing, our guide to a social services investigation sets out the usual steps.

Frequently asked questions

Expert Tip

Families often go into this meeting wanting to show goodwill, so they agree to everything on the day. The trouble starts weeks later, when a promise about school runs, overnight care or someone moving in proves impossible to keep, and the review shows the plan has slipped. Before the meeting, each person should work out what they can really give, for how long, and what help they need in return. A smaller plan that holds is worth far more than a big one that breaks.

Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist