family and for the smacked again in the future and we need to assess the agencies involved? impact of the action on the child 7. Detail ALL previous Detail any previous incident of abuse or neglect(type and incidents of and frequency) in this family and/or any record of the current neglect caretakers having abused or neglected other children Is there a pattern of abuse (such as physical abuse being repeated) or is it changing (such as the concerns spanning a range of abuses)? Do they accept any of the previous concerns? Do they have any insight into their previous behaviour? If so why the lapse? Do they accept or reject themselves as a continuing risk? 8. What are the A view should be taken of possible strengths including strengths in the extended family and community supports but they should be related to the abuse or neglect under consideration. situation being analysed? Here too the emphasis is on the situation being assessed but consideration should also be given to factors from the caretaker’s past where there is evidence that these are strengthening current coping capacity. For example, a parent who has for a number of years prior to the “coped” current concerns can show the capacity under other circumstances to provide appropriate care for the children 9. Do any risk reducing An admission by a parent of the problem and a willingness factors to co-operate with a treatment and intervention programme can reduce risk. The use of interventions known to bring benefits (e.g. appropriate, regular medication for a mental illness would also reduce risk) 10. What are the A risk assessment should attempt to forecast how a prospects for change situation will develop in the future. Clearly, the capacity for in the situation and improvement or deterioration in the current conditions is for growth? central to any such assessment. A key indicator of the likelihood of change is the parent’s attitude to the abuse or concerns an acknowledgement of the difficulties and a – preparedness to work towards change would normally be seen as lessening the risk and the denial of the problem as increasing it Other areas may include parenting skills and the capacity to learn so can ways of teaching and imparting parenting – skills, matched to the parent(s)methods of learning, be improved? Do they have the capacity to generalise learning to it to new situations? Have they made some changes previously but could not sustain?
family and for the agencies involved? smacked again in the future and we need to assess the impact of the action on the child 7. Detail ALL previous incidents of and neglect Detail any previous incident of abuse or neglect(type and frequency) in this family and/or any record of the current caretakers having abused or neglected other children Is there a pattern of abuse (such as physical abuse being repeated) or is it changing (such as the concerns spanning a range of abuses)? Do they accept any of the previous concerns? Do they have any insight into their previous behaviour? If so why the lapse? Do they accept or reject themselves as a continuing risk? 8. What are the strengths in the situation being analysed? A view should be taken of possible strengths including extended family and community supports but they should be related to the abuse or neglect under consideration. Here too the emphasis is on the situation being assessed but consideration should also be given to factors from the caretaker’s past where there is evidence that these are strengthening current coping capacity. For example, a parent who has “coped” for a number of years prior to the current concerns can show the capacity under other circumstances to provide appropriate care for the children 9. Do any risk reducing factors An admission by a parent of the problem and a willingness to co-operate with a treatment and intervention programme can reduce risk. The use of interventions known to bring benefits (e.g. appropriate, regular medication for a mental illness would also reduce risk) 10. What are the prospects for change in the situation and for growth? A risk assessment should attempt to forecast how a situation will develop in the future. Clearly, the capacity for improvement or deterioration in the current conditions is central to any such assessment. A key indicator of the likelihood of change is the parent’s attitude to the abuse or concerns – an acknowledgement of the difficulties and a preparedness to work towards change would normally be seen as lessening the risk and the denial of the problem as increasing it Other areas may include parenting skills and the capacity to learn – so can ways of teaching and imparting parenting skills, matched to the parent(s)methods of learning, be improved? Do they have the capacity to generalise learning to it to new situations? Have they made some changes previously but could not sustain?