Family Assessment:

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Family assessment is the practice of examining a family in order to help them achieve safety and stability of the entire family. It involves examining the strengths, weaknesses, needs and the resources of a family. The key areas of family assessment are: children welfare and safety, family needs and examining the family strengths.

This family assessment should 1st examine the welfare and safety of the children. This is because children suffer the most in unstable families. The welfare of the children should therefore be considered first when conducting family assessment. Children may suffer from abuse and risk being harmed. Children welfare in some families may not be well catered for in some families causing psychological harm to these children. The welfare of the children should be enhanced 1st to prevent any further psychological damage. The family needs should then be reviewed as this will enable the social workers to counsel the family on how best to meet their needs. Some families lack basic needs such as, shelter, food and health care access which may affect the welfare of the children. The family needs assessment will enable the practitioners to reduce the risk of child abuse.

According to Dolgoff, Loewenberg & Harrington (2011), family assessment enables families to identify their strengths in order to improve their living standards. The family is advised on how to improve their strengths and to solve their problems. In addition, the family is counseled on appropriate ways to improve on their weaknesses. There are lots of questions that can be asked during the assessment. Some of the questions may be about the family’s income, whether the family sometimes goes without food and the health of the family especially the children. Questions on cases of physical abuse by family members may also be asked. Other possible questions may involve drug abuse cases and the access of education by the children. These questions will enable the social workers to establish the condition of the family in order to establish appropriate ways of helping them.

The questions asked and the answers given will be recorded by the counselors. If it is established that the family requires help, appropriate instructions to be followed will be written by the counselors. Daily instructions will be established for the family to follow. The family will also be warned on the behaviors and acts to avoid. These instructions and questions asked by the social workers will provide evidence of the assessment.

References

Dolgoff .R, Loewenberg .F & Harrington, D. (2011). Brooks/Cole Empowerment Series: Ethical Decisions for Social Work. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.