Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Responsive Regulation In Child Welfare: Systemic Challenges To Mainstreaming The Family Group Conference, Paul Adams, Susan Chandler

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this article is to examine the challenges inherent in trans- forming child welfare services. We apply Braithwaite's model of responsive regulation to the restorative practice of family group conferencing in child welfare. Shifting the role of the state away from controller of families in the child protective services system to one of regulatory partner with them is extraordinarily difficult. The paper looks at the complexities of reorienting child welfare services through the use of family group conferences on a large scale.