Family Council Stuttgart

At a family council, you sit down with people who are important to you. These can be family members such as siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins, friends or acquaintances; you decide who to invite and who you trust. At the beginning, professionals may also be present to share their assessment of the situation and support options as required. The family council coordinator will support you in clarifying any questions that arise in the run-up to and during the family council.

You then work together with the people who are important to you to find a solution to your problem. Finally, together with trusted people, you can find out what is necessary for you now, how you can help each other and whether you want to accept outside support, for example from the youth welfare office.

A family council can be helpful for many issues. For example, when parents are unable to raise their children and the children's care needs to be ensured, when parents separate and many agreements need to be made, or when children have difficulties at school.

It is also useful when there are differing opinions and conflicts arise over the best solution. There are many other occasions. You decide for yourself whether you want to take advantage of the offer.

You can contact the Family Council Office yourself at  familienratstuttgartde or experts, for example from the youth welfare office, can put you in touch. From here, an independent person is appointed to coordinate the process. You can find detailed information in our flyer in the download area.

In a future council, you sit down with people who are important to you. These can be family members, friends or acquaintances; you decide who is invited and who you trust. At the beginning, professionals may also be present to share their assessment of the situation and support options as required. The Future Council coordinator will support you in clarifying any questions that arise in the run-up to and during the Future Council.

You then work together with the people who are important to you to find a solution to your problem. Finally, together with trusted people, you can find out what is necessary for you now, how you can help each other and whether you want to accept outside support, for example from the youth welfare office.

Future advice can be helpful with many questions. For example, when you are about to move into your first home, have difficulties with your education or don't know what to do next in life.

It is also useful when important decisions need to be made and there is uncertainty or disagreement about the best solution. There are many other occasions. You decide for yourself whether you want to take advantage of the offer.

You can contact the family council office yourself at  familienratstuttgartde or experts, for example from the youth welfare office, can put you in touch. From here, an independent person is appointed to coordinate the Future Council. You can find detailed information in our flyer in the download area.

We support professionals - also on site, for example in information meetings with families, practically in the preparation of orders or in case discussions. We offer introductory and advanced training days tailored to your individual needs.

There are also

• Answers to frequently asked questions
• Literature on basic principles and current topics
• evaluations
• Open ears for ideas and constructive criticism

Do you need something else? Then please contact us at  familienratstuttgartde

The aim of the Netzwerkkonferenzen e.V. association is to publicize cooperative procedures such as family councils and network conferences (conferencing), particularly in youth, elderly, integration, offender and victim support services, as well as in schools, and to raise public awareness of these procedures. All interested parties are invited to become members. Information can be found on the  association's website (opens in a new tab).

The aim of the following network meetings, which are open to all interested parties, is to exchange practical experience, learn from each other and further develop the work of the Family Council:

• Network meeting Family Council Southwest: The meeting takes place twice a year and is open to all those active in the Family Council in the southwest. We meet alternately online and in person.
• The German-speaking Family Council Network Meeting takes place annually in the fall. Further information can be found on the  website of the association Netzwerk Konferenzen e. V. (opens in a new tab)
• The European Family Group Conferencing/Family Council meeting takes place annually in spring in different countries.

If you are interested in receiving information about the meetings or joining the e-mail distribution list, please contact the Family Council office in Stuttgart.

Crises, conflicts and emergencies determine everyday life in the advice centers and educational support services. Last year, there were impressive experiences with family councils, which succeeded in creating space for listening, understanding and communication, thus enabling more trusting cooperation in highly conflictual situations.

The practical day for professionals took place on March 1, 2024 under the heading Family council is a good idea, but.... If you can no longer get on alone, the support of other people can make a decisive difference. This is when a family council or future council can be useful. When we offer a family council, we often hear:

• Yes, that's certainly good, but it's not for me!
• I don't want others to get involved.
• I don't want others to know about my problems.
• We have so many arguments.
• There's no one there.
• The professionals should solve it now.

Motivating people to change - is that even possible and if so, what can we as professionals contribute? Impulses for working with children, young people and their families - even beyond the family councils.

On March 2, 2024, the practical day for coordinators took place with the title This touches me - and now? The focus this year was on dealing with one's own emotions in the family or future council .

There were some very moving Family and Future Councils in 2023, where you highlighted the following topics, among others:

• What does neutrality mean?
• Can I have and show compassion?
• How do I create trust and closeness with neutrality?
• How do I deal with difficult issues so that they don't burden me too much?

When coordinating family or future councils, we are also touched personally. Our own family history resonates in the background - the beautiful and also the challenging experiences. How do we deal with this? Especially when families are in crisis and at the same time, unconsciously, our own history is touched upon, it is important to safeguard our neutral position as FamilyCouncil coordinators. Margherita shows what is going on in our brain from a neurological perspective and what we can do to protect ourselves emotionally. This is the prerequisite for providing safe contact for families too. Among other things, she draws on the  'Protective Wraps' model. (opens in a new tab) It was developed by Kitlyn Tjin A Djie and has its origins in transcultural systems therapy.

Building sustainable networks for children and youth

On March 16-18, 2023, we held our 8th Family Council Practice Day. Our Sean Haresnape from London reported on the concept LifelongLinks. He lectured on the following topics:

Why Lifelong Links? Background, development, general conditions
What is Lifelong Links? Process steps, procedure, role of coordination, tools
What are the experiences? Results, evaluations (Oxford University), further development

We are happy that so many professionals and coordinators showed interest in the conference. We had an exciting conference with lectures, films and workshops. Thank you very much for the stimulating exchange.

From September 30 to October 1, 2021, the 14th German-language Family Council and Conferencing Network Meeting took place in Stuttgart. This year's event included the Stuttgart FamilyCouncil Conference.

"Staying together in turbulent times"

It was great that so many people attended our network meeting in Stuttgart online and on site! We also celebrated the 11th anniversary of the Stuttgart Family Council Office together this year.

We were able to attract national and international speakers to provide inspiring input:

• Prof. Dr. Holger Ziegler: "Why family?" Current research on the tension between special relationship quality and special dependency and the consequences for child and youth welfare.
• Diana Kinnert: "The new loneliness. A call for maturity in the flexible digital world! With the digital worlds, familiar structures are crumbling, the old are being left behind, the young are rushing into an uprooted future. This new collective disconnectedness is the big issue of our time."
• Tim Fisher Camden / London and Coco Klußmann: "What holds society together?" Insight into the work with Family Group Conferencing and Community Building.

We learned in workshops and exchanged ideas in regional corners.

In October 2020, we dealt with the topic of "shame".

What is shame anyway?
How do we deal with the topic of shame in family councils?
What do people who feel ashamed need?

The symposium took place online, so Dr. Stephan Marks' presentation on dealing with human dignity and shame was very well documented.

 Documentation of the 6th FamilyCouncil symposium (October 2020) (opens in a new tab)

You make contact with the family and prepare the family council together with them. As the coordinator, your sole task is to support the family in organizing and conducting the family council. Support and advice for the family is provided by the responsible social worker.

The time required per family council is between 20 and 40 hours and you will generally not conduct more than three family councils per year. For each family council, you will be commissioned and remunerated by the Family Council Office as an independent freelancer. In addition, the Family Council Office offers regular meetings and specialist conferences for exchanging practical experience and learning together.

You enjoy organizing and keep calm, even when things get turbulent. With your open nature, you like to be committed to our society and to the interests of families, but are not trained or working in a social work, therapeutic or counseling profession.

What you need to bring with you:

• Organizational skills
• Empathy and perseverance
• Creativity and flexibility
• Confidential information is in good hands with you
• You can ask questions and ask questions where necessary
• You are proficient in common Office applications
• work independently, also from home
• Extended police clearance certificate without entries