|
THE FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSMENT
(General Introduction)
Please see our Risk
Options page.
You might be interested
in our Initial & Core Assessment course.
The Framework for Assessment (2000) was the
result of a collaboration between the Government (DoH), the NSPCC and the
University of Sheffield. The purpose was to introduce to child care social work
a standard model for conducting assessments on children and their families that
was comprehensive and inclusive of the major aspects of their lives.
The Framework model has now metamorphosed into
the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) but the
original version is still used within mainstream social work for Initial and
Core Assessments on children.
One key idea of the Framework is to view each
individual child within a family as having a multi-dimensional nature in its own
right. This meant that the Framework took on board the dimensional assessment
(Assessment and Action Record) which was part of Professor Roy Parker's Looked
After Children system that was introduced in 1995.
The impact on the child of parenting and its
environment were to be ascertained by collecting information along specified
dimensions of parenting and environment and determining what strengths and
weaknesses were present thus indicating child need.
The Framework has thus three Domains of
assessment activity:
- Child Development Dimensions
- Parenting Dimensions
- Family and Environmental Dimensions
As can be seen from the figure, there are 7
dimensions of Child Development, 6 of Parenting Capacity and 7 of Family and
Environment. This makes for the potential of a highly complex and detailed
assessment. You can read about the full implications of the complexity of this
model of assessment in Alan Cooper's published essay "Risk and the
Framework for Assessment" - see BIBLIOGRAPHY
FOR RISK, DECISIONS AND ERROR THEORY and our Research
page.
Each dimension is subdivided into many other
possible "sub-dimensions" and guidance was issued by the Government
on how to do this (pages 19, 21 and 23) in the publication (2000) Framework for Assessing Children in Need and their Families.
Other supplementary assessment systems (e.g. Attachment Theory models) can
be adjoined at this stage to further develop / define the sub-dimensional set
which sets the scene for the detailed assessment.
These additional (supplementary) sets of
sub-dimensions are supplied in terms of additional "Risk Tools" which
aid this process. For example, Osiris teaches the use of such supplementary Risk
Tools for:
- Attachment and Emotional Harm Assessment
- Pre-Birth Assessment
- Sexual Maltreatment (Victims and
Perpetrators) Assessment
- Neglect Assessment
- Mental Illness and Child Protection
- Kinship Care Assessment
- Domestic Violence Assessment
The above supplementary Risk Tools are
available in our various Risk Options specialist
courses.
Learning Objectives for our two day Framework
Course:
- History and rationale of the Framework
- Fundamentals of Risk
- Fundamentals of Assessment and Analysis
- The Framework as a Risk Model
- The Process of what we call
"Assessment": selecting sources and gathering information;
analysing information and weighing up results.
- Initial and Core Assessment.
- Checking Results with a generic family
Osiris Risk Tool
- Deriving plans from the Assessment
- Outcomes and Plans
- Core Group Work and the role of the Core
Group.
See
also our Initial & Core Assessment course.
Many of our courses teach aspects of these
Learning Objectives to a more advanced level. For example:
Analysis
and Assessment
Outcome Formulation
Risk Models
See also our user pages on Risk
Dimensions, Probability and Judgement
pages.
Please Contact
Us to discuss your requirements.
 
| 
