"Ki mai ki au. He aha te taonga nui o te ao? Maku e ki, he tamariki, he tamariki, he tamariki."
"Should you ask me, what is the greatest treasure in the World?
I would reply, it is children, it is children, it is children."

Family group conferences emerged from the indigenous community of New Zealand. Like many traditional people, the Maori solved problems within their community by bringing everyone together to discuss and make plans. The seminal document that was commissioned by the New Zealand government to seek Maori views was called “Puao-te-ata-tu”. The translation of this is “daybreak”.

We are honoured that the Mauri community have allowed us to call our organisation by this name. New Zealand made law this means of involving extended family and friends in making important decisions and called the process “family group conferences”. It is now a model that is being used in many places throughout the world.

Find out more about FGCs.

Daybreak provides family group conferences for a range of Local Authorities and other statutory and community groups. It also provides training and consultation. See more information about our programmes.

We work with families where there is a child or vulnerable adult who is in need. We arrange meetings of family and friends who get together to make plans to help. The FGC can be a great way of making sure that a family's voice is heard. See how FGCs work and read how they have helped families to solve their problems.