families

Practitioners often have to undertake assessments of children and their families who are living in poverty. To help improve the consistency and quality of these assessments the Government introduced the Framework for the Assessment of children in need and their families (DH, 2000). This learning object lets you explore the framework and its many dimensions. With the help of Barbara, a social worker, you will use the framework to assess the Johnson family, gaining an understanding of how the framework can help you in assessing the needs of children and families in your daily role.

This report summarises the findings of the Final Evaluation of the Working for Families Fund (WFF). WFF, which operated from 2004-08, invested in initiatives to remove childcare barriers and improve the employability of disadvantaged parents who have barriers to participating in the labour market, specifically to help them move towards, into, or continue in employment, education or training. The programme was administered by 20 local authorities (which covered 79% of Scotland’s population), operating through around 226 locally based public, private and third-sector projects.

The Time Intervals Working Group was set up in 1997 to report on the processing of cases through the children’s hearings system. Following wide consultation, the first Blueprint, containing a Code of Practice and associated standards and targets, was published in March 1999. The objective was to identify and minimise areas of inconsistency, duplication and unnecessary delay at key points within the system, so that children at risk have their needs addressed effectively at an early stage.

This is an introduction to significant legislation in the field of child care other than The Children (Scotland) Act 1995. It is the third in a series of sessions in this resource which can be used together. The first two dealt with children’s rights and Children (Scotland) Act 1995. They have been re-structured for independent use, but can still be used in sequence. The final session deals with (social work) departmental procedure (this could be adapted for use by other agencies).This section is a trainer input via a Powerpoint presentation with handouts.

For some families leaving a child alone is a necessity because of lack of other options. For others it is a symptom of parental neglect. Understanding the differences between these situations is a challenge for child protective services agencies. This is the report of a study to examine how local child welfare agencies respond when they receive reports of children who are taking care of themselves.

This Framework builds on the good work already underway across Scotland and illustrates progress with actions in support of our shared objectives.

This review, commissioned by the government, is the first of an ongoing series of national overview studies of Serious Case Reviews. Its aim was simple - to draw out the key findings of a sample of such case reviews, and their implications for policy and practice.

This report contains a summary and recommendations from the Public Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie.

This short training scenario was originally used in the context of introductory child protection training. It gives brief information from which participants are asked to identify what they are concerned about and what they would do next. A school is concerned about the behaviour of a disabled child.

This study of home supervision conducted from 2000-2002 was commissioned by the Scottish Executive. The research team obtained data from social work case records; reporters; panel members; teachers; social workers; families; a national data set of children on home supervision; and key informants in local authorities. The overall aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of home supervision in promoting beneficial changes in the life of the child.