Tools and Methods Used by the Family Justice Program

• Supportive inquiry is a creative process of gathering information by asking nonjudgmental open-ended questions. Rather than focusing on people’s deficits (such as substance abuse or criminal history), staff ask questions that promote new insights about individual and family strengths, productive behaviors, and healthy coping mechanisms. Staff acknowledge people’s challenges, but also value their skills and talents.
• The genogram is a diagram of a person’s family and social network. This family mapping tool shows age, gender, and the nature of relationships (positive, conflicted, or neutral). The participant and others identify individuals to include in the diagram, often in response to questions asked by a case manager who works for a government agency or community-based organization. A genogram may also include information about employment, education, mental health, involvement in the justice system, and other relevant details. The Family Justice Program encourages people to emphasize and depict their family members’ strengths when creating a genogram. 

• The ecomap (pictured at right) displays government and community resources the participant and his or her family use, including informal and formal organizations. Examples of informal organizations are the corner deli, the community garden, and the local basketball league. Formal ones are typically government and private agencies that play a role in the lives of the participant and family. These may include a school, a community-based agency providing preventive services, a clinic, a drug treatment program, or a peer support group at a local ministry. 

Ecomaps can display agencies’ conflicting goals or demands and often highlight the need for coordination. They show sources of support that family members and staff may tap in new ways.

• The Relational Inquiry Tool is a list of eight carefully crafted questions supported by a training module. Family Justice created the tool for use by corrections staff in providing day-to-day case management and developing reentry plans. Another version of the tool was designed for use by juvenile corrections staff. As a complement to standard risk and needs assessments, the Relational Inquiry Tool helps staff learn about important resources for successful reentry: families and social networks.

The goals of the Relational Inquiry Tool are:

• to provide staff with a user-friendly method of recognizing and reinforcing positive connections to family and social networks during and after incarceration
• to build rapport between the professional using the tool and the incarcerated individual.

The Relational Inquiry Tool was developed with support from the National Institute of Corrections and in partnership with state departments of corrections in Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Oklahoma, and with the Safer Foundation in Chicago. The Juvenile Relational Inquiry Tool was developed with support from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and in partnership with juvenile justice departments in Arizona, Michigan, and Ohio.

Additional resources

• Read more on involving families in case management.
• Read an article about the Relational Inquiry Tool from Corrections Today.
• Read recommendations related to the Relational Inquiry Tool in a report from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s Task Force on
  Prison Reform.