Upcoming Event
Register for the IIRP's 13th World Conference, October 13-15, 2010, in Hull, England, UK

The IIRP's 13th World Conference, "Restorative Practices Across Disciplines," will be held October 13–15, 2010, in Hull, England, UK, in collaboration with Hull City Council. The conference will feature several plenary speakers, including Hull's Director of Children and Young People's Services Nigel Richardson, whose vision of a family-friendly city has led to training in restorative practices for 23,000 professionals and volunteers throughout the city.

Call for Presenters: Submit a proposal to present a 50-minute breakout session by March 31.

More information here »
Download Call for Presenters/Advance Notice flier (PDF) here »

IIRP's 2010 Summer Training Institute will be held July 26–July 30, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

The IIRP's Summer Training Institute brings together participants from all over the world for a weeklong immersion in the full range of restorative practices.

More information here.

American Humane’s 2010 Conference on Family Group Decision Making and Other Family Engagement Approaches: Fostering All the Connections

Tuesday, June 22, to Friday, June 25, 2010
Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center
Burlington, Vermont

Conference participants will enjoy a variety of ways to explore community partnership building, the intersection between practice and values, organizational and systems change, research and evaluation, and learning across systems — all in relation to FGDM and other family engagement approaches in child welfare, mental health and juvenile justice systems.

Download a PDF with more information here
Register for the conference here

Guidelines for Family Group Decision Making in Child Welfare

American Humane’s National Center on Family Group Decision Making, in coordination with the FGDM Guidelines Committee, has published Guidelines for Family Group Decision Making in Child Welfare, a comprehensive 63-page handbook covering all aspects of the FGDM process and philosophy, from basic explanations, history and values to detailed descriptions of the role of the coordinator, the referral process, preparation, the family meeting, follow-up and administrative support.

Download the free handbook here

Hundreds attend 12th IIRP World Conference

On October 21-23, 2009, nearly three hundred educators, social service, criminal justice and other professionals from 15 countries and 18 U.S. states gathered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, for the 12th IIRP World Conference, "Restoring Community in a Disconnected World, Part 2." Like all IIRP conferences, the event was acclaimed by attendees as a wonderful opportunity to support each other’s efforts and share success stories and questions around restorative practices. An in-depth report on the conference will be published soon in the Restorative Practices eForum. We will also be posting breakout session papers, as presenters continue to send them in.

More information here

International Institute for Restorative Practices approved as a graduate school by Pennsylvania Department of Education

On June 26 the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education signed the Certificate of Authority for the International Institute for Restorative Practices to operate as a graduate degree-granting institution. By this action, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has officially recognized "restorative practices" as a new discipline. The IIRP is the world's first graduate school wholly dedicated to restorative practices.

Courses will be offered on weekends to accommodate working adults and those traveling substantial distances. Summer weekday courses will be offered to accommodate teachers' summer break.

More information on the IIRP Graduate School here.

Family group decision making/family group conferencing articles available in the IIRP Library

Here's a list of some of the articles and links to articles on FGDM/FGC available in our Library:

A Family Plan Forged Out of Commitment and Love:
An FGDM Story
Lynn M. Welden, IIRP

Family Group Conferencing Worldwide
Part One    Part Two    Part Three
a three-part series by Laura Mirsky, IIRP

Family Group Decision Making Reunites a Family
Laura Mirsky, IIRP

New Study Reports on Success of Family Group Conferences in Schools in Hampshire County, England, UK
University of Sheffield, England

Hampshire County, U.K.: A Place of Innovation for Family Group Conferencing
Laura Mirsky, IIRP

The Family Group Conference 14-Year Journey: Celebrating the Successes, Learning the Lessons, Embracing the Challenges
Shannon Pakura, New Zealand Department of Child, Youth and Family Services

Family Group Conferencing as a First Choice: Empowerment Versus Intervention
Robert van Pagée, Eigen-kracht Centrale, Voorhout, Netherlands

Addressing Child Protection and Group Care Issues Through the Use of Family Group Conferencing
Karin Gunderson, Northwest Institute for Children and Families, University of Washington School of Social Work, Washington State, USA

Family Group Conference Connections: Shared Problems and Joined Up Solutions
Paul Nixon, former commissioning officer for FGCs for the Hampshire County Council Social Services Department, England, currently Children’s Service Manager in West Berkshire, England

Mainstreaming Family Group Conferencing: Building And Sustaining Partnerships
Joan Pennell, North Carolina State University

Long Term and Immediate Outcomes of Family Group Conferencing in Washington State U.S.A. (June 2001) Nancy Shore, Judith Wirth, Katharine Cahn, Briana Yancey, Karin Gunderson

Restorative Justice in New Zealand: Family Group Conferences as a Case Study
Allison Morris and Gabrielle Maxwell, Institute of Criminology, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand

Background Paper On New Zealand Youth Justice Process
Judge Michael J.A. Brown, Principal Youth Court Judge, New Zealand

The Family Group Conference – 10 Years On
Mike Doolan, Children, Young Persons and Their Families Agency, New Zealand

Special volume on FGDM research available from American Humane Association

A special double volume of Protecting Children, the journal of the American Humane Association's National Center on Family Group Decision Making, is now available. This volume, entitled Promising Results, Potential New Directions: International FGDM Research and Evaluation in Child Welfare, contains reports on FGDM research from around the world and offers "considerable support for the advancement of FGDM and good reasons to explore ways to mainstream its practice." A PDF of the volume's 10-page introductory article is also available.