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Refocusing children’s services: evaluation of an initial assessment process
Author(s) -
Platt
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2001.00197.x
Subject(s) - social work , context (archaeology) , psychology , process (computing) , social welfare , qualitative research , public relations , medical education , applied psychology , nursing , medicine , sociology , political science , social science , computer science , law , paleontology , biology , operating system
This paper describes a small scale evaluation carried out in a social services department in England. It was concerned with the impact of a pilot initial assessment process used by social workers with children in need. The pilot was, in part, an attempt to adopt the ‘refocusing’ agenda of the late 1990s, and the analysis is presented within this context. The research involved quantitative examination of 47 cases, and qualitative interviews with the social worker and main carer/parent in a subsample of 10. The results suggested a high level of consumer satisfaction with the assessment/family support approach, and very little evidence that the use of broadly based assessments where there are low‐key concerns about a child’s safety would be a dangerous form of practice. A wholehearted commitment to refocusing children’s services will, however, require attention to resourcing and management issues.