The Britain Experience

The government of Britain has adopted the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, a model for practice that places an emphasis on children’s developmental needs in order to promote and facilitate collaboration. The framework is used at the national level by all of their government agencies (i.e. protection services, specialised services, and universal services) that target the welfare of children (Jones, Chant, & Ward, 2003). This unifying framework strives to:

1. Create the use of a shared language and understanding between professionals so that the terminology and parameters used to define and track developmental progress of children is common among partners;

2. Improve collaboration;

3. Valorise the exchange of information;

4. Facilitate the process of referrals;

5. Provide better planning and benefits of service;

6. Offer interventions that are appropriate and efficient in order to ensure that children and their families receive a consistent service that is adapted to their needs.

The assessment framework describes the developmental needs applicable to all children, the parental capacity requirements needed to satisfy these needs, and the family and environmental factors prone to mediating parental capacity and the fulfilment of the child’s developmental needs. This framework (see below for an illustration of the Assessment Framework) refers to three systems (child, parent/primary caregiver, family and environment). Each system is composed of multiple dimensions (see table with description). The interdependence of the system allows for a better comprehension of a child’s situation, depicting a more precise portrait of the presenting risk and protective factors, so that services can be more appropriately identified to prioritize the child’s well being.

The proposed assessment framework is based on several guiding principles that help orient professionals in their assessment and help facilitate collaboration:

• The child is at the centre of the intervention;

• The different developmental stages of the child are considered in order to provide activities and services that are adapted to the age of the child;

• The child’s well being is understood through an ecological perspective, meaning that their well-being is dependent on multiple factors including environmental responses and how they in turn influence parental capacity;

• There is no discrimination with regards to family structure, ethnicity and religious orientation, which guarantees that all children have the same opportunity for optimal development;

• The child and parental figures are given equal consideration;

• Protective as well as risk factors are identified;

• Collaboration between all the partners involved is essential to ensure that the child and families needs are adequately met;

• The assessment of the child’s needs is a continuous process in order to track developmental progress;

• The child and their family should receive services even if the evaluation and assessment of their needs has not been completed.

In addition, the Assessment Framework stresses the following theoretical underpinnings:

Child’s developmental needs

• Literature on the development of child / promotion of well-being and optimal development / critical stages of developmental milestones;

• Attachment theory;

• Risk factors, protective factors and resilience;

• The child’s perspective.

Parenting Capacity

• Perspective of the parental figure;

• Parental capacity.

Family and environmental factors

• Family structure and functioning;

• Strength-based approach towards the family;

• Theory and myth of individual and society;

• Ecological approach / transactional approach of child development / life conditions and social integration;

• An approach that is centered on the promotion of power both of the individual and community (empowerment).