Family Rights Group’s vision is a society in which families can thrive and all children have loving relationships to turn to throughout life.
Our mission is to ensure that the child welfare and family justice system support children to live safely and thrive within their family, while strengthening the family and community ties of those children who cannot live at home. Founded in 1974, our work combines commitment to human rights and social justice with expertise in child welfare law, policy and practice.
Family Rights Group collaborated with a number of local authorities and other stakeholders, including young people in care, their families, foster carers and social workers to develop Lifelong Links. The aim of Lifelong Links is to ensure that children in care have a positive support network to help them during their time in care and later as young adults. A trained Lifelong Links coordinator works with the child to find out who is important to them, who is in their family network, who they would like to be back in touch with, and who they would like to know. The coordinator searches for these people and then brings them together at a Lifelong Links family group conference (FGC) to make a plan of support with and for the child. This Lifelong Links plan is then embedded into the child’s care or pathway plan.
We now offer a comprehensive package to local authorities who wish to establish and develop a family group conference or Lifelong Links service.<...