Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) has been increasing adopted in child welfare agencies, however little research exists on the processes of FGDM or subsequent child welfare service (CWS) use. Furthermore, most studies on FGDM are limited to particular locations or focus on a specific type of FGDM. This study analyzes the experience of 355 children and families referred for child abuse and neglect who experienced FGDM during the initial placement or planning assessment. These cases are identified from a nationally representative sample (NSCAW), making this the first study to describe FGDM on a national level. Four waves of NSCAW data (Baseline, 12-, 18- and 24-months) are used, allowing this study to assess children's outcomes after three years. This study examines who is referred to FGDM, who participates in the meetings, what services they obtain, and re-reports for maltreatment by 36 months.

Bivariate analysis shows that there are significant differences regarding age, primary type of abuse, number of types of abuse, and severity of abuse between children who received FGDM and those who have not. Contrary to our hypotheses, there were no significant differences in FGDM use among cases involving domestic violence or cases previously investigated for child maltreatment. When using logistic regression to control for other factors, all bivariate differences disappear, except for the number of types of abuse--cases that received FGDM tended to have slightly more types of maltreatment reported than cases that did not receive FGDM. Additionally, among child welfare agency staff, child protection investigators participated in the FGDM process for almost all of the cases (94.8%), while mothers were the most frequent family member to participate in the FGDM process, participating in the majority (86.2%) of cases. Furthermore, at time of the initial NSCAW interview, families that experienced FGDM had significantly more services than families that did not experience FGDM. Specifically, families who participated in FGDM were more likely to receive parenting classes, mental health services for the child, as well as counseling for the child and the caregiver. However, 30.7% of the children who experienced FGDM had at least one re-report of maltreatment within 36 months after the initial assessment, which was not significantly different from children who did not receive FGDM (29.6%).

Outcomes in this study are based on descriptive analysis and require interpretation within the constraints of the selection of cases into FGDM, which serves more children with multiple types of maltreatment. The findings provide needed national-level description of the experiences and outcomes of children and families who received FGDM. The findings are useful for policymakers as well as practitioners since many FGDM initiatives are still in the early stages of implementation. In particular, learning about the process itself, such as who participates and what services are provided, can lead to targeted improvements in how agencies conduct the FGDM process and address families' needs. Moreover, the findings regarding children's long-term safety outcomes highlight the need for agencies to focus on how their efforts can be improved to prevent subsequent child maltreatment.