Session3.3

FAR Family Assessmentin FamLink

MATERIALS NEEDED
  1. Showview projector
  2. Handouts (listed separately below)
  3. Laptops
  4. Wireless connection box
  5. Extension Cord
  6. Flipchart

APPROXIMATE FLOW
Activity/Topic: FamLink walkthrough/documentation
Time: 3 hrs
HANDOUTS
FAR Family Assessment Guide
Associated Pre-Learning/Field Manual Components
Prior to attending this training participants should have
  1. Attended FAR In-Service Track Week
Developmental Competencies
SW101-06 Ability to use FamLink to document specific casework activities that pertain to a worker’s position
Curricular Competencies
  • Awareness of the importance of completing the FAR Family Assessment
  • Understanding of the core elements needed to complete in the FAR Family Assessment
  • Ability to complete the FAR Family Assessment

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Case workers will use practice tools specific to FAR, in a FamLink training environment, to document work on a case that is currently assigned to them. The fundamentals of the safety framework and the practice of coming to consensus with the family about the problem, defined in terms of Family Level and Individual Level concerns may also be integrated into coaching sessions if needed to support social worker learning. Workers will gain familiarity of the FAR Family Assessment(FAR FA) and receive hands-on assistance on what is needed to assess and document in each assessmentareas.
PROCEDURES AND TEACHING POINTS
Topic referenced in p. 1 “Approximate Flow” section
Trainer’s Notes: An Intake will need to be created in the FamLink training environment. Ensure that the intake created is screened in for the FAR pathway.
Welcome and Overview
  • Welcome participants
  • Explain that today we will get a hands-on view of the FAR FA
  • We will review each assessment area and gain further knowledge as to what information is critical to assess and document under each question
  • Please take a few minutes to log into your laptop and go to the CA intranet page
  • Click on the Web link
  • Now click on the training tab
  • Click the first hyperlink that is titled FamLink Training Environment
  • Go to your FamLink desktop
Trainer’s Notes: Connect the showview to one of the participant’s laptop. If no one volunteers to have their work displayed on the screen, then the trainer will need to use one of the laptops and walk them through the FAR FA. Ensure participants that we are not asking them to document complete or in-depth assessment information. It will make the session more efficient if the trainer is able to walk around the room and highlight areas that are displayed on the screen.
Desktop View and Launching the FAR FA

  • Please click on your cases expand
  • You will notice that your actual cases are mirrored in this environment
  • This environment is refreshed once a week, so some of your case information may not be up-to-date
  • You are free to enter any information as we go along for practice. Your work today will not be reflected in FamLink production.
  • Find Select any case
  • Click “Create Casework” in the header
  • You will notice that functionality remains the same
  • Create a new FAR FA
  • The FAR Family Assessment Intake Link page displays
  • Only FAR Intakes will display to link

FAR FA Overview

  • The FAR FA is a new practice tool, however it replaces the previous Family Assessment and Assessment of Progress
  • This assessment not only encompasses our practice model, it is a visual and tangible document that operationalizes what we have learned about SBC.
  • A General Tab has been added to the FAR FA which allows you to add or edit out Parent’s and Children from the evaluation.
  • The FAR FA has the same functionality as the previous Family Assessment and the current CFE.
Trainer’s Notes: At this point, just read click through each of the remaining tabs. Explain that the entire assessment is broken up into each of these tabs. We will be covering what content is needed for each area.

General Tab

  • Now let’s take a closer at the General Tab
  • Enter the Assessment Date in the Header. This is the only required field to Save the Assessment.
  • The first 2 group boxes on the General Tab are the Parent/Caregiver and Children boxes where you can add and edit parents and children to the case.
  • A soft edit displays if you select a child in the Parent/Caregiver or an adult in the Children group boxes.
  • You can select additional Victims, not identified in the Intake, or indicate an individual is an Erroneous Victim (removing the requirement to complete an IFF)on the Children’s Case Participant popup
  • The next group box (The Initial Engagement group box) has 2 questions with radio buttons and also a text box for further explanation
  • The 2 questions here refer to whether the worker discussed the FAR pathway with the family and whether the family accepted FAR intervention (FAR is a voluntary Service)
  • Selecting “No” to the question “Did the family agree to participate in the FAR Intervention?” automatically selects the Transfer to Investigation radio button in the Assessment Recommendation group box on the Disposition tab
  • Remember from the training that, during that first meeting, we are using engagement skills to both explain FAR and also to get their agreement to move forward with this intervention.
  • The final part of this tab indicates that signatures were obtained from the family on the FAR Agreement (when they accept FAR)
  • It is at this point, during your assessment documentation, that you need to upload the signed FAR Agreement to FamLink by selecting the Signature File Upload link in the Options Pane
  • Ensure the Date of Image is correct (between initial intake and FARFA closure)
  • Ensure the Selected Intake matches the one identified on the FARFA general tab

  • This document will become a part of the assessment
  • Now, let’s move to the next tab, Prior Involvement

Prior Involvement Tab

  • Here we will see the family’s prior involvement with us
  • How many prior CPS intakes or FAR interventions exclude an intake from going to the FAR pathway? (3 each or a combination)
  • History of Agency Involvement (Enter a summary of agency involvement in the text field)
  • Now let’s move on to the Family Situation Tab

Family Situation Tab

  • The first 2 group boxes ask us to identify the Family Developmental Stages and military status

Family Developmental Stages Dropdown Box

  • This is a simple task of highlighting the developmental stages the family is in
  • Beyond just identifying it for FamLink purposes, we must start each encounter with families understanding and discussing their everyday life challenges
  • This is based on what stage they are in, which is determined by the ages of their children
  • Starting here begins our assessment and naturally lends itself to a beginning partnership
  • We all reside in stages and have to complete daily tasks to meet the needs of our children
  • No one gets a buy because they are a professor, president, social worker, or drug user.
  • If this is where families live day in and day out, isn’t this (their everyday life events) what we would need to assist them with if we wanted to be in partnership with them?
  • Aren’t these the same kind of things we all struggle with in one way or another, and if so, doesn’t that argue for a more level playing field between worker and family?
  • If families get discouraged after failing to resolve these challenges, wouldn’t it make sense for us to try to point out what they have done right and to encourage a renewed effort with some new approaches?

Military Family

  • The next group box is identifying whether this is a current or past military family
  • Ask the group why this is important
  • We have a large military presence in this state.
  • This can impact any of the developmental stages or even change them in an instance
  • The next 2 group boxes and text boxes ask us to document essential information

Active Military must match Person Management –Additional Tab to complete the FARFA

Describe the nature and extent of Situation that brought the family to the Department’s attention

  • In other assessment, we are describing the extent of the maltreatment
  • But here, we are purposeful in our words by replacing maltreatment with situation
  • The situation may, and usually can, be maltreatment at a lower level
  • However, we have learned that in SBC we help the family redefine “problems” as difficult situations in everyday life
  • The wording of this question will help us all stay focused on the task of describing problems as difficult situations
  • Here we are looking for the facts of the situation and the concerns/needs of the family
  • Information that answers this question includes:

-Type of maltreatment (if identified in the Intake and assessment)

-Family’s current needs and concerns

-History of the situation/maltreatment

-Specific events and findings that support evidence of maltreatment

Sequence of Events: Describe the surrounding circumstances that led to the family assessment?

  • Assessing this information has been proven to be the key data element that keeps us focused on what must change to improve outcomes
  • Tracking their interactional sequence is a skill that will help us answer what family task is leaving a child at harm and which individual exhibits a behavior that causes this.
  • Tracking will also be the means that will get the information we need about 1) the Harm, 2) protective capacities, and 3) the child's vulnerability, and it will lead us to our Milestone of Building a Consensus with the family about what is not working and how we might help.
  • Information we want to see here is:

-Details/step-by-step account of how abuse/maltreatment/neglect occurred before, during, and after

-The duration of the maltreatment (how long has this been going on?)

-Caregiver intent (separate from their actions) concerning the maltreatment

-Caregiver explanation for the maltreatment and family conditions (including who is living in the home, other adults).

-Caregiver acknowledgement and attitude about the maltreatment

-Other problems occurring in association with the maltreatment (like substance abuse or mental disturbance)

  • On to the next tab

Family Functioning Tab

  • The first area has you identify the children’s living arrangement and the family’s characteristics (AFCARS)
  • Next are 6 text boxes that require documentation:

Describe the family’s composition and cultural factors

  • Please remember, that cultural information and assessing is not a one-time thing that goes in one box
  • We are curious throughout our work with the family
  • Here is one place where we document the composition of the family and cultural factors
  • This is an easy task, however if assessed with the family in provides a rich partnership process
  • Try capturing this information with the family by using a genogram

Describe the everyday life task(s) that contribute to the situation

  • In your conversations with families, this is one of the first areas that you are assessing
  • It is within these everyday life tasks (such as supervision, discipline, curfew, etc.) where abuse/neglect occurs and the situation the family needs help with
  • We assess and help families understand that their old plan for meeting a specific family task has led to a child being harmed or uncared for
  • Information to capture, includes:

-Challenging family tasks – Managing child behavior, toilet training, protection from sexual behavior, etc.

-Describe the interaction around trying to meet this task – the who, what, how

Describe what the family has done to keep the child (ren) safe and healthy in the past and the resources used

  • This is our exceptions question related to the EDLE that has been challenging (i.e. Safety threat or situation)
  • We should spend as much time understanding the exceptions to the problem as the problem itself
  • Much of our information about the family historically has been about times when the family has not been successful at managing its everyday tasks.
  • While this information is accurate, it certainly is not the whole story
  • This process of being curious about what works in the family, particularly in similar situations as the one that presents risk to the family, provides a balanced view of the family, more hope on everyone’s part, and some useful clues regarding where to start the change process

Family Functioning continued

  • We are still on the Family Functioning Tab
  • Scroll down to see further assessment areas

Describe how each parent(s)/caregiver disciplines the child (ren)

  • Ask the group: Why are we concerned with this? What more do we mean by discipline?
  • Here we are talking more about how families utilize discipline for negative behaviors
  • How a parent reacts or handles a child for their behavior, actions, etc., tells us a lot about their self-control and also about what they think is appropriate
  • We should be curious as to how a family came to the ideas they have about discipline
  • Information to capture, includes:

-Disciplinary methods

-What child(ren) are disciplined for

-Differences in discipline, if any, for each child

-Duration of discipline

-Who handles discipline

-Idea and purpose of discipline

-How parent was disciplined

-Context in which discipline occurs

-Cultural practices

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What are the overall parenting/childcare practices used by the caregiver?

  • Information to be captured, includes:

-Describe the daily/weekly routine

-How do they meet the child (ren)’s needs.

-What does the parent enjoy in their parenting role

-What does the parent find challenging in their parenting role

-Parent’s understanding of child development

-Parent’s understanding of the practice of child rearing

Describe the family’s support system

  • Information to capture, includes:

-Family/community supports and how do these supports impact the children

-Additional supports

-Areas in the family’s life where additional supports may benefit the family

-Any negative supports

Family Level Objectives

  • The final area on this tab is where we document the FLO and tasks/services
  • Remember that the case plan was co-developed prior with the family
  • Here we are just documenting that agreement
  • The FLO must be directly related to the family situation (life challenge)
  • FLOs call for a new plan to meet an everyday life challenge such as “supervising the children”
  • The way you write an objective is important in SBC, because:

-It defines what will be happening at the end of our work,

-It defines what we will be measuring.

-Is not just directing people to services

-And it allows anyone to pick up a case plan even 10 months down the road and know exactly why we are in the case.

  • Objectives state “who will do”; “what plan”; and “why-safety reason
  • For example: The family will use their “Family Chore Plan” to safely discipline Max so that he learns to complete his chores and is free from physical harm.

Parent/Caregiver Tab

Parent/Caregiver List

  • Select one parent at a time and complete the Individual Adult Patterns of Behavior and Individual Level Objectives for each caregiver. Repeat as necessary for each Caregiver.
  • The Individual Patterns of Behavior Text and ILOs only relate to the selected parent.

How do the parent(s)/caregiver manage his/her own life on a daily basis?

  • The last part of this question, as written in FamLink, is the most important
  • Here we are identifying and describing which parent/caregiver has a behavior that makes it difficult for the family to keep their children safe and taken care of.
  • Here we also want to identify =, not only the behavior, but the sequence or cycle of how it occurs
  • Early on in a case the parent/caregiver may not know this or want to talk about it
  • However, through Tracking we can get a sense of how much they know about their behavior, which helps us determine the level of intervention needed as the case moves forward.
  • As you TRACK the sequence of family interaction around the everyday task that is creating safety or risk, you will hear INDIVIDUAL behavior that is making the SITUATION much more challenging, and eventually unsafe.
  • At some point, this behavior needs to be understood in some depth through a similar TRACKING of the individual behavior, particularly WITHIN the situation(s) of concern.
  • This slowing of the process down enough to help the client recognize the difference between their intentions and their ultimate actions allows them more room to own some part of their contribution to the problem.
  • It also helps you identify what specific prevention skills they already have (exceptions), and what skills they will clearly need.
  • It also helps you decide on THREAT of HARM and PROTECTIVE CAPACITY questions, like how much self-control do they have, when they lose self-management, how destructive can they be, and does anyone else step in to protect?
  • Additional information to include is:

-Communication and social skills

-Coping and stress management

-Self-control