Assessment Tools

When undertaking an assessment, practitioners engage the parent(s) in numerous exercises to explore the functioning of the parent's relationship(s) with their child/ren. To achieve this, exercises are undertaken to explore the 'Disruptive Risks' to the parent-child relationship(s); the parent's understanding of their child/ren's basic care needs; the parent's understanding of emotional attunement; the parent's support network; and the parent's understanding of how they manage their own self-care needs.

Disruptive Risks

With the use of pictorial cards, practitioners help parents to think about the different types of 'Disruptive Risks' that might be impacting on the functioning of their relationship(s) with their child/ren. The 'Disruptive Risks' may include things such as domestic abuse, parental mental health difficulties, and/or parental substance misuse.

External Disruptive Risks

Practitioners also engage parents in a visual exercise to identify and reflect on external disruptive risks. 'External Disruptive Risks' are things which are happening outside of familial relationships and which are impacting on the functioning of the parent-child relationship(s). This may include things such as poor housing, financial difficulties, and/or concerns surrounding anti-social behaviour in the community.

Basic care needs

An important part of any parenting assessment is to evidence a parent's understanding of how they meet their child/ren's basic care needs. To do this, practitioners use pictorial cards to explore the parent's understanding of their child/ren's basic care needs. For example, the cards help parents to reflect on how they implement routines for mealtimes, play, and bathing.

Emotional Attunement

With the use of short animated videos, practitioners help parents to reflect on the functioning of parent-child relationships. By doing this, it creates opportunities for parents to reflect on the functioning of their relationship(s) with their child/ren, including how they respond to their child/ren's cues for emotional warmth and connection.

The Family System

As well as exploring the functioning of the primary family system - including the functioning of the parental relationship and the impact the relationship has on the parents' caregiving - practitioners explore the support parents can access from the wider family system(s).

By using visual aids, practitioners help parents to identify individuals who can offer them and their child/ren support, and clarity is gained around the nature of the support and how the support may help increase the safety in the parent-child relationship(s).

When exploring a parent's support network, they might identify support they can access for childcare from their parent(s), they might identify family members who can offer them practical support for their daily routines, or they might identify family members or friends who can offer them emotional support.

It takes a village to raise a child

African Proverb