What is the Framework of Assessment for a Child in Need and their Family?
When the local authority have received a referral with regards to a child, they must assess whether the child represents as a Child in Need.
How they go about this is monitored by a statutory assessment framework to help them draw the correct conclusions with regards to the needs of the child and to allow them to make the best decisions for the child’s future.
The framework gives the local authority a systematic way of analysing, collecting and understanding information relating to the welfare of the child from three different views: the child’s developmental needs; the capacity of the child’s parents to provide for those needs and safeguarding them from harm; and the impact of relatives and outside factors (environmental, etc) on the child and his/her parents. Both strengths and weaknesses need to be identified.