Eigen Kracht Centrale, Dutch for "Our Power," is an NGO operating throughout the Netherlands that provides independent coordinators for organizing Family Group Conferences (FGCs). The FGC is a process that provides a structure to bring together extended family, close friends, and sometimes appropriate members of the community, to help a family or individual develop a plan to care for a child, secure housing, find work, confront addiction, obtain medical assistance or address other crucial issues that might affect children or youth in a family, rather than a judge, social worker or other professional making a plan for them. FGCs are also being used around the world in schools, prisons, communities and other contexts.
The following video trailer sets the stage for an Eigen Kracht FGC that was held in a small community that was struggling with a variety of issues that were negatively affecting the quality of life in the village.
Thanks to Paul de Bont for allowing us to post the trailer to his documentary, The Letter of the Mayor. The film has been shown on television and to private audiences, and it will be shown at the IIRP Europe Conference in Budapest in June 2015. The film is not currently for sale, but we will keep you posted when it becomes available!
