@article{Spijker_De Jong_2021, title={Family Conferencing: Responsibility at Grassroots Level – A Comparative Analysis between the Netherlands and South Africa}, volume={24}, url={https://perjournal.co.za/article/view/9325}, DOI={10.17159/1727-3781/2021/v24i0a9325}, abstractNote={<p>As family group conferencing is gaining world-wide recognition as an alternative dispute resolution process, this article aims to outline the origin and relevance of this process, which promotes solution-finding to family problems by the family themselves and/or the social network and usually results in a plan or agreement that will be implemented collaboratively by the people involved. Although it was originally used in child protection matters, the process is now used for a wide range of problems pertaining to families and individual family members, including divorce matters, the illness or death of a family member, the care of the elderly, family financial problems, bullying, addiction cases, domestic violence and child justice matters. The process is also suitable for application in problems concerning any group, neighbourhood or school. Next, the application of family group conferencing in both the Netherlands and South Africa is first examined and then briefly compared. It appears that family group conferencing through <em>Eigen Kracht </em>in the Netherlands is an established practice which consists of a relatively simple and quick process and yields positive results for families/communities experiencing problems. Recently the Dutch <em>Youth Act</em> of 2015 (<em>Jeugdwet</em>) made legislative provision <em>inter alia</em> for a family group plan to be drafted by parents, in conjunction with next-of-kin or others who are part of the social environment of a youth/juvenile person. On the other hand, although extensive legislative provision is made for family group conferencing by the <em>Children’s Act </em>38 of 2005 in children’s court proceedings and by the <em>Child Justice Act </em>75 of 2008 in the child justice system in South Africa, the process has not yet reached its potential in terms of the implementation of the concept. Lastly, some recommendations are made which mainly aim to contribute to the implementation of the concept in South Africa, in that the model will eventually be fully developed and utilised for the benefit of individuals, children, their families and/or social network.</p> <p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C4ZqO54AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="/public/site/images/bontle-1813/GS87.png"></a></p>}, journal={Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal}, author={Spijker, Arda and De Jong, Madelene}, year={2021}, month={Apr.}, pages={1–32} }