Cognitive and Psychosocial Development of Adolescents Assignment
Step 2: Assessment
Definition:
Assessment is an on-going process that is fluid and dynamic. The assessment process involves giving, receiving, analyzing, and synthesizing information as it emerges during the relationship between a social work professional and client system. An assessment is only as complete as the information that it is drawing on.
Assessment looks like:
Skills that are important this process
The Assessment Process
An Initial Assessment or Investigation takes place when a specific allegation of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, or an imminent threat or danger to a child is made. The initial assessment/investigation seeks to determine if the allegation is substantiated (founded) or unsubstantiated (unfounded). During an initial assessment/investigation, the professional is gathering information to see if the child has, is experiencing or in:
A Family Assessment is a comprehensive process for identifying, considering, and weighing factors that affect the child’s safety, permanency, and well-being. This process is designed to gain a greater understanding about the strengths, needs, and resources of the family.
Steps of the Family Assessment Process:
Safety and Risk Assessment
Safety Threats
Present Safety Threat – refers to an immediate, significant, and a clearly observable family condition occurring to a child in the present. If a present safety threat is observed, the child is not safe.
Impending Safety Threat – refers to threatening conditions that are not immediately obvious or currently active but are out of control and likely to cause serious harm to a child in the near future.
Risk – refers to conditions that are becoming out of control and are getting dangerously close to being likely to cause serious harm to a child.
Sources:
Brown, V.A. (2002). Child welfare case studies. Boston, MA: Allyn Ann Brown
Clements, L., Williams, C., Blevins, J. (2016). Distinguishing Safety and Risk in the Real World: A key skill for every stage in child welfare work. NC Division of Social Services. Retrieved from: https://fcrp.unc.edu/distinguishing-safety-risk-real-world-key-skill-every-stage-child-welfare-work/
DePanfilis, D. (2006). Child neglect: A Guide for Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Questions
1. What are examples in this source of what is happening on a micro (individual level), on a mezzo (community level), and on a macro (societal level)?
2. How might you be able to use a strengths perspective to interpret what you read?
3. What are two ways that your biases such as the self-serving bias (which is when you take credit for positive outcomes and blames the negative outcomes into other factors) and the pessimism bias (which is when someone is overly thinking for the worst to come as opposed to vice versa) are showing up in your perception of what you are seeing?
4. How might the course material that have been incorporated into the final sentences of the initial post have been linked to the course material?
Please be sure to:
Please respond to the three (3) discussion questions listed above in paragraphs format. After you have responded to the three discussion questions, please use in text citation for each question answered and provide APA reference page citations