- There can be lots of reasons why families have difficulties getting their children to school regularly. Education Family Conferences, or EFCs, are a way of bringing family members together in a positive way. They involve families and schools having a conversation about things that are working well, things that aren't so good, and things that families might want support with, and other support that the family might benefit from. These conversations help the family to work out a plan that everyone has participated in and agrees to, which will support the child's attendance at school. Our process is called an Education Family Conference. This helps to make sure it is not confused with the Department for Child Protection's Family Group Conference, which is a statutory intervention option. The Education Family Conferences are a voluntary process that creates an environment where the family can come up with their own plan, facilitated by an independent coordinator and with the focus of increasing their child's engagement in education. - We had a say in developing a plan that worked for our family. That felt great. We also felt like we had some good supports at the meetings that were our choice. - Yeah, the coordinator talked to us about who we though could support us. I asked for Aboriginal Education Services Officer to be there, as we've been doing some work together. I felt safe to talk about why we've been having problems getting Dean to school. I felt good about being open and honest about what was going on at home. - Yeah, sometimes stuff happens and it's hard to get Dean to school. - The conference is really good because everyone's in the same room. Everyone's in there having a yarn, working together to help us out. And we felt really supported. - An Education Family Conference is a family decision making process. The family is recognised as an expert in knowing their situation and what will work to help improve their child's school attendance. Families are asked to help develop their own solutions. This way of working acknowledges families know themselves better than anyone else. It's a voluntary meeting, but because it is your responsibility as a parent to get your child to school, this is a really good way for everyone to work together to develop a plan to support you to do that. Schools often seek extra support from an education social worker to help them work with a family to get their children to school regularly. - Also, if there are any cultural needs, we'll work with you to make sure you have the support if you want it. - Anna hasn't been attending school regularly. She's been here on and off for the last year. We've tried several things to support better attendance and to address her gaps in learning, but... - The Education Family Conference helps us to work in a different way. The great thing about the conference is that the family and the student have a voice and it's their plan, and it's our job to support them. - Sounds great. - My role as an Education Family Conference coordinator is different to that of the social worker. I remain independent. My role is to facilitate the family conference impartially. I make sure everyone gets a say in a safe and supportive environment. I assist the family to develop their own plan to get their child to school. When I get the referral, my job is to speak with you to help you prepare for the meeting. This might take a couple of phone calls or we might meet face to face. Okay, so this is where we need to talk about who needs to be at the meeting. - Who can I invite? - Well, anyone from your family or anyone else that you think could support you. So who do you think we should include? - Well, my mum looks after Anna a lot, would I be able to invite her? - Of course. It's also really important that your child attends so that they have their say. - She's a little bit nervous, would there be someone there to help us with that? - Yes, and they're called a child advocate. - I'm a child advocate. Listening to what the child has to say is a very important part of these meetings. So these meetings work best when your child is able to have a say as well. Understanding a child's strengths, worries and needs is a really important part of an Education Family Conference. - The people in the meeting really listened to what mattered to me. And I had this person called a child advocate who spoke for me when I needed support. - It is important that there is someone involved in the meeting who can speak to your child and understand things from their point of view. This person is called a child advocate. - I also like how my child advocate was in there. So if I was a bit unsure or didn't really want to stand up for myself, I had someone there willing to do it for me. - You can choose someone to be a child advocate, such as a family friend or teacher, or the coordinator can organise a trained person like me. - I'll also ask you about any cultural or language considerations for the meeting. If you need an interpreter, I can organise this. Okay. So let's talk about where you would like to have the meeting. This can be anywhere that you feel comfortable other than in your home. So for example, it could be the library or a local community centre, or even the school if you're okay with that. So what are your thoughts about the best options for you? - I'm okay with the school. - I prefer somewhere else, like the library down the road. - Okay, so we do have two options. Let's explore them. - And we've been working with a social worker from Housing SA. She's been really good. Can she come along as well? - Of course On the day of the family conference, we go to the venue that has been chosen. The people we have discussed, who are supporting you and your child, will attend too. The department social worker and someone from the school will also be there. We all introduce ourselves and I make sure everyone knows the purpose of the meeting and understands how the meeting will run. The social worker and school provide information about your child's attendance and what they want to achieve from the conference. You and your child get the chance to talk about what is working well and what isn't working well. The social worker, school, and any other services involved talk about what they can offer to support you. Then if you want, you have a chance to have some private family time to talk it through and talk about a plan that you think might work for you. - After everybody talked about how to support us, we then had time to get together as a family. Everyone else left the room. - We talked about what we wanted as part of the plan. What would work for us? - I got to be involved too. - After family time, I bring everyone back together to discuss the family's plan. We all agree on what can be done, who can help and when it will happen to support your child to get back to school. Usually everyone in the meeting has something to do after the meeting. - My mom agreed to come around in the mornings to help get the kids to school. The school had some great ideas to welcome Anna back to her class. She was really excited about it. - Both of us agreed to go to a parenting support workshop. It's actually pretty useful. - To make sure everyone knows what the plan is and what their jobs are, I write up the plan and everyone signs it and gets a copy. Before we leave the meeting, we set a review meeting, usually for about eight weeks afterwards. After the meeting, we work together to support the family to implement their plan. I collate the information and put it together in a report and bring it to the meeting. - Okay, and I'll monitor their attendance and keep an eye on their wellbeing and I'll bring that info to the meeting too. - At the review meeting, you can let everyone know how your child is going with school and their attendance and ask for more support if needed. - We got together for the review meeting to talk about the progress that we had made. It wasn't easy and sometimes we couldn't keep to the plan. - We talked about the positives that we've seen in Anna. - And we both got her ready for school more often. She would come home at the end of the day and talk about her learning and the games that she had played with other children. And we feel really good about our parenting and the boundaries we've set around bedtime and the use of the PlayStation. - I now see Anna coming to school, smiling. She's really happy. She's participating more in her learning and classroom activities. She's got more energy. She's just really improving in class. - That's really good to hear. I can see that the Education Family Conference has made a real difference to attendance. I've built a really good relationship with the family as well. And we're still working on some other strategies to support them at home. - Great. - Things have really got a lot better but we felt like we needed some more support. We spoke to the school and the social worker and just came up with ideas of how best to keep to our plan. I walked out of the family conference feeling much more confident that actually we had a team of people around us that could help us, support us and guide us through this tricky time. - Coming into the family conference, I was a bit concerned that there might be blame, you know, laid in my direction. It's always a concern when your children are having issues. But once I got in there, it was a lot more comfortable. I felt that we were all there for the same reason, and that was to help Anna. - I really felt like the adults were listening. I go to school most of the time now, and I feel like I'm getting better at maths. I like reading to the volunteer and having computer time. I made friends with Ty and Amy, and we play together at lunchtime. - It was scary at first, but now I really love coming to school. Things are really good now.

End of transcript.

The aims of the meeting are to help you:

• talk about what’s getting in the way of your child going to school regularly
• make a plan to help you get your child to school regularly
• make sure you have the support you need to get your child to school
• build on your family’s strengths.

A written plan is developed at the meeting and includes all of the decisions made by your family to support your child to attend school.

Yes.

These meetings are voluntary. If you do not wish to take part, or change your mind, let the social worker or the independent coordinator know. The social worker or Aboriginal services engagement officer may still work with you in other ways to support your child to go to school. If their attendance does not improve, they will look at other options that are available. You must remember that it is your legal responsibility to make sure your child attends school.

Who attends the meeting

You will attend the meeting with your child (if it is age appropriate for them to be there). There will be a range of other people at the meeting to help support your family to develop your plan to get your child attending school including:

Independent coordinator

The independent coordinator’s role is to run the meeting. They are independent and remain impartial.

Before the meeting happens, the independent coordinator will contact you to work out your family’s needs for the meeting. This may be by phone or in person.

They will:

• help you work out who you would like to attend the meeting
• choose a time and location
• organise the meeting and make sure everyone can attend.

At the meeting the coordinator will:

• make sure everyone has the chance to speak
• ensure everyone participates safely
• enable discussion
• support you and other participants to make decisions

The coordinator is there to support everyone at the meeting to help develop your plan. They do not make the decisions for you.

Support for your child

Your child will have a support person to help them to be involved in the meeting. They are called a child advocate. The child advocate will make sure that your child is supported to have their opinion heard and make sure they are central to the plan.

You can either choose a trained child advocate which the independent coordinator will arrange for your child or you can identify someone your child knows and feels comfortable with.

Other support people

The coordinator will talk to you about who are the best support people to attend. This may be family, friends or other services you are already working with.

Education and other support professionals

The social worker or Aboriginal services engagement officer will attend the meeting, along with someone from your child’s school.

The coordinator can organise for professionals from other services to attend if you would like them to participate.

The independent coordinator will help work out what your family needs, to help the meeting to be a success.

Location

The meeting can be held at a location that will support your family taking part, other than a private home. This might be at school, in a park, at a library, a cultural centre or other location. The independent coordinator can give you ideas of where the meeting could be held.

Language and cultural needs

The coordinator will check if there are any cultural or language considerations that will support your participation. This might include a specific support person, organising a translator or holding the meeting in a specific service or location that is culturally significant for your family.

Disability needs

If you or your child have a disability, the coordinator will speak with you about any support you might need.

The meeting is about everyone supporting and working together to help improve your child’s attendance at school. The meeting has three parts.

Part one: sharing information

Everyone invited attends the first part of the meeting.

Everyone will introduce themselves and their role at the meeting.

You, the social worker or Aboriginal services engagement officer and the school representative will have an opportunity to talk about what is currently working well and what is getting in the way of your child going to school.

Your child will also get the chance to talk, or the child advocate will speak on your child’s behalf.

Everyone then talks about what supports they can offer to help improve your child’s attendance at school.  This might be school based supports and community supports.

Part two: family time – developing your plan

After the information sharing part, there is an opportunity for your family to talk in private. You may wish to have your support people stay for this part as well.

This is a chance for your family to discuss what you think will help your child to go to school, and come up with a plan.

You can ask any of the invited people for ideas to add to this plan.

Part three: agreeing to the plan

After family time, once you have some ideas about what will support your child to attend school, the coordinator brings the meeting back together.  Either you or the coordinator will talk your plan through and the other participants will have an opportunity to contribute to the proposed plan. This is a decision-making process where everyone is working together.  Once everyone agrees on the plan, the coordinator will write the plan up.

The final plan will include:

• what can be done
• who can help
• when it will happen.

A date will also be set to review the plan.

Everyone at the meeting will sign the plan. You will get a copy.

The review meeting will usually happen around 8 weeks after the first meeting. The same people will be invited to attend.

At this meeting you can:

• let everyone know how your child is going with attending school
• talk about your successes and any challenges
• discuss what other support you need.