A Common Assessment for Children in Need? Mixed Messages from a Pilot Study in Wales

Autor/in	Pithouse, Andy
Titel	A Common Assessment for Children in Need? Mixed Messages from a Pilot Study in Wales
Quelle	In: Child Care in Practice, 12 (2006) 3, S.199-217 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1357-5279
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Social Services; Child Development; Pilot Projects; Intervention; Children; Interviews; Focus Groups; Evaluation; Caseworkers; Social Work; Child Safety; United Kingdom (England); United Kingdom (Wales) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Social service; Soziale Dienstleistung; Soziale Dienste; Kindesentwicklung; Pilot project; Modellversuch; Pilotprojekt; Child; Kind; Kinder; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Evaluierung; Soziale Arbeit
Abstract	A core element of government policy for child and family services in Wales and England is the notion of multi-agency collaboration in order to meet the needs of children, and in particular the use of a basic common assessment tool in order to provide information swiftly and consistently when making referrals. This paper reports on a Welsh Assembly Government funded study to design and test a common assessment framework (CAF) for referring children in need to social services. The scheme was piloted by a social services department and its partners in an urban local authority area in South Wales, and results were compared with data gathered from a neighbouring authority that used an alternative method for obtaining information at the point of referral. A semi-experimental method of evaluation indicated that the CAF did facilitate better information sharing and did appear to promote a more focused service response to referrals. However, it also revealed a limited capacity among some occupational groups to engage with particular assessment fields in the CAF that required comments on aspects of child development. It was also evident that some professionals were unlikely to seek the views of children when completing the CAF. In this respect, introducing a CAF may well expose the need for ongoing integrated training in the concepts and conduct of assessment to help generate skills and consistency at the local level--neither of which should be assumed to be present in advance of implementation. (Contains 4 tables.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10