The assessment framework provides a systematic way of making sense of what is happening to a child within the context of their family and community.
Laming (2003) – Successive professionals never communicated with the child. “This is the first of numerous observations disclosed as evidence to this Inquiry but not at any time recorded on Victoria's case file. The importance of accurately recording observations about children cannot be over-emphasised” Clever and Walker (2004) – the impact of the assessment framework; This has been a concern in almost every child death enquiry – Jasmine Beckford and Kimberley Carlisle. Most social work cases do not end in such tragedy and most social workers do interview children as part of their assessment. However, because listening to children is so complicated, these interviews frequently result in inaccurate or incomplete information. This, in itself, can be harmful to children as the resulting plans may not keep them safe, may mean that services offered are inappropriate or that they suffer the trauma of a Section 47 investigation unnecessarily and may even be removed. Coastal Cities Study (Holland 1997-2001) Ref Sally Holland ‘Child and Family Assessment in Social Work Practice’ SAGE 2004 – The descriptions of young children were often direct quotations from the charts with little changing of the wording. It was clear that social workers were viewing children according to how well they fit in with an assessment tool rather than making observations of/ communicating with the child concerned and then using the tool to aid understanding. (Holland)
One example of a 25-page assessment cited a family with four children and a lone parent. 8 pages devoted to the parent and only two to the children. (The two-year-old was summarised in two paragraphs.) Children were described as ‘minor characters in the narrative’.
My own example “I’ve put my heart in men, but I’ve been let down”
1) Understand children’s sense of loss. They have lost their sense of self and may not feel they can be helped. They say they’re fine, we accept it, we collude with it, and we walk away – it’s easier. Example from asylum seeker’s file – young person from Angola, at age 11 years had come home from school, found his house burning, a neighbour had rushed him away and told him that his family had run away. He lived with the neighbour for a year, then was sent to England, where he was told his family had fled to. He had been sent to be with them. The various agencies, Red Cross etc., couldn’t trace them. The assessment described him as having no emotional problems, doing fine, not in need of any specialist services. 2) Developmental considerations – children’s understanding at different ages, adolescents’ willingness to engage (but don’t forget individual differences) Cultural differences. Adverse events affecting children’s responses.
‘Write Enough’ can be found on the ECM website under the Integrated Children’s System section. The focus is on how records are kept. The site includes exercises to help improve practice. Trainers should stress that one of the most important benefit of summaries is that the process itself helps you think about your approach to a case, reflection and future direction and planning.
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