Parent and Child Assessments

INTRODUCTION

Undertaking Parent and Child Assessments is a privilege, a unique opportunity to contribute to crucial decision-making during a child's early years, and to promote and develop healthy attachments where the potential exists in a parent.

Parenting is a complex and subjective topic. Often parenting styles are diverse and individual which makes the assessment of parenting such a difficult task. No two families are the same and there is no single "correct" way to bring up a child. It is easy to take for granted the skills that are involved in meeting the diverse needs of children.

The overall framework for Outlook Fostering Services Assessments has been tried and tested, along with some advice borne out of the experience of a number of placements.

All Social Workers are trained in PAMS (see below) and this model can be used as stand alone or eclectically. All Parent and Baby Outlook Foster Carers get a high level of support and supervision from the Outlook Team.

PURPOSE OF PLACEMENT

The overall aims of the placement will be to provide comprehensive parenting skills assessment, which is evidentially sound. This will assist local authorities and the courts in making decisions around permanency planning for children.

Alongside the assessment, the Outlook Carers and Social Work Staff aim to develop the full potential of parents to achieve a "good-enough" level of parenting to enable them to move on with their children. This will take place in the Foster Carers home, offering a stable and consistent placement with ongoing support and guidance in parenting skills, which will be adapted to meet the diverse needs of the particular family in placement.

The placements also provide an opportunity for enhancing the self-esteem and social skills of the parent, to support them in coming to terms with past trauma, to promote their independent living skills and to ensure a positive experience for themselves as well as their children.

Where it is not possible for the child to remain with the parent long-term, Outlook Staff work closely with the Local Authority in ensuring a smooth move on, for both parent and child. This sadly often involves separation and the Carer continuing to care for the child in the short-term whilst the Local Authority make Long Term/Permanency Care arrangements.

REFFERALS

Referrals mainly come from Local Authority Social Workers and can involve teenagers or women who are pregnant or have just given birth, or parents with older children. Although the majority of referrals tend to involve a mother and baby, some carers will have the skills and accommodation to take on two parents and more than one child. Queries about placements may also come from solicitors or other professionals.

Assessment Frameworks

1. Department of Health's Framework for Assessment (The ‘Lilac" Book)

Outlook's Parent and Child Assessments take place within the context of the Department of Health's Framework for Assessment (The ‘Lilac" Book) and as such should be on a continuum with any assessment undertaken by the Local Authority prior to placement. All staff and carers are advised to read the Framework for Assessment, and our OFS Placement Agreement, recording forms and weekly feedback reports have been devised to fit in with this framework, an outline of which is as follows: -

The areas in this framework for which we are responsible will need to be clarified with the Local Authority, For example, we may be requested to assess all aspects of the framework, which will involve social work assessment and input to a greater degree. Alternatively, we may be asked to assess children's needs and parenting skills whilst the local authority social worker undertakes an assessment of family history, etc.

It is important to remain flexible according to individual needs and also to ensure that areas for assessment are clearly identified in the placement agreement Local Authorities will often come to us with a prior to placement or wish to draw up their own agreement in addition to OFS placement agreement.

2. PAMS . (Parent Assessment Module Software)

The PAMS manual aims to look more closely at what is required for "good enough parenting". The PAMS assessment covers areas such as chid care and development, behaviour management, independent living skills, safety and hygiene, parent's health, relationships and support, and the impact of the environment and community on parenting. Each parenting skill that falls within a domain is assessed for parental knowledge, quality of parenting skills and the frequency of parenting practice. By breaking these elements of parenting down into testable components PAMS starts to make an assessment of quality that is evidence based.

Subjectivity is always present in any assessment of parenting and this manual is no exception. The PAMS requires the assessor to make judgements about whether a parent's ability is good, adequate or poor. Guidelines and example answers are provided to aid the Carer/Social Worker in making this judgement. As PAMS was designed not to be restrictive in its approach, it gives the user flexibility to apply sections as they see fit, within the context that best suits the family and themselves. After completion, the assessor will have a clear, visual family profile of functioning, that targets parenting support needs, as well as child protection issues. Identifying services for vulnerable parents who have temporary, long-term or transitional supports needs whilst safeguarding their children from abuse and neglect can be challenging ( DfES, Doh, Home office, 2003).

With this in mind, PAMS has been developed to present complex information within a format that interfaces well with the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Needs and Their Families (2000) and the Common Assessment Framework ( DfES, 2006). PAMS can be used either as a screening tool and/or as a comprehensive specialist assessment that is central to the identification and targeting of support required by those families where parents or children have additional and/or complex needs.

HOW IT WORKS

The manual has been designed as a tool that can be used in a way that suits both the professional and the family within the time scales available to them both. In its complete form the assessment would continue over a number of weeks and involve various professionals. A Social Worker (Outlook or Local Authority) takes the responsibility for collating the information gathered by others to formulate detailed reports on the findings. If areas of need have already been identified, a more detailed assessment can be undertaken using selected areas of the manual to obtain in-depth information.

The manual has three parts:

INITIAL ASSESSMENT:
The Initial Screening Tool (the referrer completes), the "I need help...form" and the Parent Questionnaire (the parent completes both), the Skills Index and the Tool Sheet (the assessor completes both). Together these tools will help the assessor to gather historical and current information about the family, as well as identifying the main issues which have initiated the referral.

WORKSHEET ASSESSEMENT:
This involves an intensive investigation of Parental Knowledge, Quality of Skills and Frequency of Practice. Together the Worksheets, Observation Form Knowledge Cartoons and Parent Booklet will provide the assessor with a systematic framework within which the parenting can be assessed using observation and various exercises. These user-friendly tools have been rigorously piloted and tested for ease of parent participation and reliability of delivery by assessors.

SUMMARY AND PROFILE:
A numerical and visual (pie chart) Worksheet Summary of the results from the worksheet assessment is automatically calculated by the PAMS software. This software provides an easy-to-understand visual Child Profile and Parent Profile which gives clear identification of the family strengths, needs and risks associating with the parenting.

FINANCIAL ISSUES

Foster carers are paid 1.5 fees, for the parent and child. Additional monies may be agreed to cover the cost of baby milk etc if mother is not on benefits.

For a parent under 18, they shou1d provide maintenance, clothing, pocket money, local travelling costs, Birthday and Christmas presents and holidays as with any other child in placement.

A parent over 18 and out of education will be eligible for Income Support and Child Benefit and whilst in placement and should be encouraged to claim.

This will enable the placement to be responsible for budgeting for their own needs and that of the child, and the carer to assess their level of ability in this respect. This is an important factor in preparation for their potential return to the community.

The parent on Income Support will be expected to provide food, toiletries, nappies and clothing from this allowance, but the fee paid to the Carer will remain the same.

Usual household bills such as gas, electric, water etc will continue to be paid by the Carer.