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Professionally curious Using assessment to understand need. Jo Fox Child Centred Practice Knowing the child Enabling reflective practice Supporting practitioners to use the assessment framework for assessment, recording and planning Enabling practitioners to identify and build on resilience Supporting the voice of the child to be heard Making good decisions at early stages with partners The latest research • Safeguarding in the 21st Century , (2010), Barlow with Scott, Research in Practice. The move away from Child protection to a child-welfare model of Safeguarding emphasises the delivery of family support across all levels of provision (ie: universal through to specialist services) Findings from this report support this approach being more favourable to both families and practitioners, and there is early evidence of better outcomes. The gap between the policy and the practice is significant and there needs to be change to practice on the ground. (pg 99) The rejection of the use of standarised tools (such as the assessment framework, eco maps and the scales and questionnaires) by practitioners is no longer supportable. Assessment An integrated model of assessment should be used that combines actuarial risk assessment with the application of clinical skills and judgement alongside evidence about what works and client preferences Observations of parent-infant or parent-child interaction should comprise a core part of the assessment processes, alongside an assessment of the child’s socioemotional functioning Practitioners should have access to a diverse range of standardised assessment tools that are now available, to use selectively as part of the assessment process. Assessment should be undertaken by other specialists (eg parent-infant/child psychotherapist) if social workers do not have the necessary skill to undertake this themselves. (pg 109) October 2009 4 The latest research The document The key findings • The Oversight and review of cases in the light of changing circumstances and new information: how do people respond to new (and challenging) information? (2009) Burton.S, Safeguarding Brief 3, C4EO • October 2009 • • • Assessments are fallible and contexts constantly changing. Therefore professionals need to keep their judgements under constant critical review (Munro 2008a) The single most important factor in minimising errors is to admit that you might be wrong (Munro 2008a) Bias is inevitable and includes reframing, minimising or dismissing discordant new evidence On the other hand, some practitioners respond to new information, not by sticking to their preferred view, but by jumping around from one item to the next, never reaching a coherent conclusion or coordinated response. 5 What works to improve parenting Under fours Focus on improving parental sensitivity to the child’s needs and the child’s attachment. Emphasis on supporting the parent to understand the impact of being parented and their parenting. Over fours Focus on improving parents capacity for warm and sensitive care giving and address specific family issues. For both groups: Support needs to be explicitly focused on bringing about change in parenting and in the parent child relationship • Relational practice Authenticity, openness, mutual respect, responsiveness, presence (Freedberg, 2008) • Reflective practice Critically aware, curious, analytical, ethical (Crawshaw, 2008) • Partnership practice Active involvement of parents and practitioners, equality with regard to decision making, complementary expertise Negotiation and agreement, mutuality and respect When assessment can be part of the intervention • The assessment process itself was seen by many as being beneficial and as providing opportunities for the ventilation of feelings and anxieties, and the clarification of communication about child protection concerns. 26 September 2009 7 Integrated assessments focusing on: Assessing parenting capacity Assessing parent –child interaction Assessing parental readiness and capacity for change Modulating effects: Child’s parentability Scaffolding for parenting ( eg: from extended family and other community supports) Read Safeguarding in the 21st Centurywhere to now? Jane Barlow with Jane Scott • Initial and core assessment should be seen as the first stage in the process of supporting families rather than being separate from intervention. • Should help parents and children see their strengths and resilience to overcome or manage the issues. • Lack of cooperation from parents should be factored into the assessment process and identified as a reason for compulsory intervention should the manager be satisfied that the practitioner has used a partnership approach and encouraged participation in the process. What gets in the way? Too Much Not enough • focus on events focus on process Pointless meetings Repetitive recording Forensic approach to assessment partnerships Change talk listening to the child Focus on the resilience of the child and family Therapeutic approach to assessment How things look • I want you to listen to some information about the same topic from a number of people: • The child • The social worker verbally • The social worker written • The Chair of a conference 26 September 2009 10 The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Albert Einstein 26 September 2009 11 Understanding emergent practice “At the heart of all assessments processes at any stage in the safeguarding continuum is the need to make decisions in the face of uncertainties and incomplete information, and in often hostile and highly stressful contexts” (Burton, 2009) Linear thinking A B C Complex worlds • In reality factors emerge and move erratically making it very difficult to link cause and effect. We often have to treat the most pressing ‘symptom’ and watch to measure the impact. October 2009 14 The tension of managing changing circumstances and new information • Hold tight to the initial judgement or assessment by: • Re-framing • Minimising • Dismissing discordant information • Never reach a conclusion or coordinated response by: • Abandoning viewpoint without scrutiny • Jumping from one theory to the next • Focusing on the event Burton, 2009, The oversight and review of cases in the light of changing circumstances and new information: How do people respond to new (and challenging) information, London: C4EO Critical thinking • Critical thinking requires staff to understand their cases holistically, complete analytic assessment and weigh up interacting risk and protective factors without being sidetracked into thinking that the procedural tasks are the job. October 2009 16 Workload Responding at the front door When referral numbers are high and resources are low Thresholds move upwards and children who are perceived to be at risk of significant harm are prioritised over children who are perceived to be child in need. Risk to child Research including Brandon’s work on serious case reviews informs us that this approach is fraught unless we are able to use a range of sophisticated and complex responses to judge a child’s need. Resources Services to child 26 September 2009 17 Some practice examples Involving fathers Lack of chronology • “A social worker commenting on our research noted that she would not open up the Pandora’s Box of the father as she had no resources to offer anyway, while another stated that contacting fathers would amount to doubling her caseload.” • When the front door is busy practitioners have to use tools such as chronologies and genograms as a matter of course to support them to pattern and record information in a useful way. 26 September 2009 18 Knowing is not doing 19 7/20/2015 Knowing the Child Face to face time Listening Watching Parents Reports Other professionals opinions Research analysis October 2009 20 Direct work with children • • • • Getting to know you Understanding what makes you vulnerable Understanding what makes you strong Child development Resilience Risk factors Attachment, Self Regulation and Competency (ARC) Understanding how to help you October 2009 21 What we want to understand • Parent-child interaction • By: • What tools would you expect including attachment practitioners to use during the assessment phase to understand • Parent readiness and these domains? capacity for change • Where would you expect to see including taking account the application of these tools evidenced? of clients own • How would you expect this to understanding of contribute to supporting the problem, causes and parent and the child ? remedies October 2009 22 What we want to understand • Self-regulation skills in both children and parents - behaviours which encompass a wide range of psychological components such as affective capacity – moods, feeling and emotions. They also contain the concepts of self-efficacy – which is belief in your ability to organise and carry out the actions required to achieve personal goals; and of locus of control – the extent to which you believe you have control over the achievement of these goals. Other important aspects are motivation and aspiration, as well as application, and persistence in the face of obstacles. October 2009 BY: At your tables note down the types of behaviours you would expect to see from practitioners who were assessing and supporting children and their families to understand and improve self regulation. How could managers support the practitioner to plan for this during the assessment process? 23 What we want to understand • Competency A child’s social skills are outwardly displayed behaviours that include communication skills, influencing skills and other inter-personal skills, such as rapport, tact and empathy. In addition to being constructive behaviours they can also be negatively scaled to cover destructive behaviours such as aggression or fighting. • • • • 26 September 2009 BY: Supporting practitioners to directly observe children in a number of different settings By giving clear parameters of what needs to be observed to other agencies who work with the child By working with the child to write and draw reflective pieces that demonstrate their skills and abilities including eco-maps and life story work By providing group work opportunities for children to learn and rehearse social skills in a safe environment 24 Practitioner behaviours in assessment work Increase Reduce • Covert surveillance/high engagement employed by practitioners who quickly addressed issues of risk before subsuming concerns with regard to such issues within the context of full engagement with the family. • Overt surveillance/low engagement where workers were interested in policing possible child protection risks with only perfunctory attempts to engage the family. Some of the consequences of poor assessment on planning and intervention Action Consequence • • • • • • • • • • Poor engagement with parents and partners Poor understanding of child’s needs Focus on event not underlying causes Focus on completing paperwork or process not on therapeutic journey with child and family Poor handling of new or different information in assessment process Generic or poor decision making • • • 26 September 2009 No ownership of plan Plan too broad and general Re-referral rate high Event driven plan that focuses on short term only little or no change in awareness or behaviours by the child and family Mistakes made in understanding the risk factors surrounding the child Drift for the child 26 Jo Fox Consultant Social Worker [email protected]