The first pilot project was initiated by the Mission of St. James and St. John, an Anglican family and child welfare agency in Victoria in 1992 with funding from a 2-year grant. The project aimed to use family group conferences for decisionmaking, instead of the traditional case planning technique. An evaluation focused on 19 conferences, which involved 13 families and 23 children. Results revealed that all participants regarded the experience as considerably better than traditional case planning meetings. Family members reported that the conferences enabled them to make a real contribution to the planning for their children. In the pilot project's second phase, the Department of Health and Community Services integrated family group conferences into the child welfare system in two regions. A third pilot project will introduce family group conferences into a women's prison. Practice issues related to these conferences include the independence and neutrality of the facilitator and resistance by professionals and families. Although changes to accommodate this family decisionmaking will initially occur slowly, the emerging data on the benefits of the process are likely to have a lasting impact on the helping profession's responsibility to respect and empower extended family networks. 5 references