Effective Assessment and Intervention

For my placement, I worked in a residential family assessment centre in South London, working with families where there are child protection concerns. Therefore, effective assessment and intervention with the service users is key to the success of the service. In this paper, I will be critically appraising the approaches taken for effective assessment and intervention by the residential family assessment centre. This will include how far these approaches are underpinned by research and evaluation techniques adopted by the service.
In relation to child protection assessment, Corby (2007) states, ‘There are two key assessment points in child protection work: the first is at the point of referral when there is a need for short-term decision making; the second is when there is a need to decide on the action required to ensure the longer-term future protection and well-being of the child.’ (Corby, 2007, p218). The work carried out by the centre relates to the second of these assessment processes. The main tool for assessing the families who come to the centre is the Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families (DOH, 2000). This is a practical tool that splits areas affecting the child into three different categories: the child’s developmental needs; family and environmental factors and parenting capacity. (Brammer, 2007, p205). The centre has families referred to them by Local Authorities across London and the South East of England and most children have already been living in foster care for some time. The aim of the placements is to provide a 12-week assessment of the parents ability to meet the needs of their child(ren) within the bounds of ‘good enough’ parenting. At the end of the placement, staff at the centre makes final recommendations for the family, based on 24 hour observations, educative sessions and discussions with the family. Staff are required to give evidence in court to recommend whether children should be placed with their parents