The Personal And Social Context

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

"to acquire and study information about people in their environment, to decide upon and identify the problem and to plan effective options to resolve that problem."

Assessment is important for many reasons. It identifies risks, promotes independence and wellbeing and helps to decide whether services are required and who can offer those services. Good assessment practice includes working in partnership with the service user, not for them.

In the essay I am going to include the relevant approaches, skills and principles in the assessment process, legislation and policy including Welsh specific policy, the Codes of practice supplied by the Care council for Wales, ethical issues and anti-oppressive practice.

There are many different stages of assessment within social work. These are, gathering relevant information, starting to form a picture, agreeing objectives and goals, agreeing a way forward and reviewing any plans that have been made and the progress that has been made as a result of these plans. Social workers go through each of these stages every time they begin to assess a service user.

All assessment practice should be underpinned by core social work values. Biestek (1961) defined seven principles of social work practice. The first value is individualisation which means to be treated as an individual. The second value is purposeful expression of feelings which means to have the opportunity as a client to express one's feelings. The third value is controlled emotional involvement which means to get a sympathetic response from an interested professional who adopts a certain level of emotional involvement. The fourth value is acceptance which means to be recognised as a person of worth. The fifth value is non- judgmental attitude which means not to be judged. The sixth value is client self-determination which means to make choices and decisions and the final value is confidentiality which means to keep personal information secret.

Social work practice today involves applying different models and approaches. The first of these models is the strengths model. An important element of a social works role is to empower people. An effective way of doing this is by recognising their strengths and looking to build on them. People’s strengths are what they can do and are good at. When you are going through a difficult time it is very easy to focus on the negatives rather than the positives and this model looks to turn this around. From a social workers point of view, the first contact they have with a service user is as a result of something going wrong, so it is the social workers responsibility to try to find good in these situations.

It is important that social workers do not use stigmatising labels and personal behaviour descriptors as these are often negative. Examples of these could be labelling a family as dysfunctional or non-compliant. The language of deficits needs to be avoided, for example, ‘family is dysfunctional’ could be re-written as ‘family is overwhelmed and in need of support’. It is also important to avoid depersonalising the service user. People should be referred to by their proper names and not "mum" or "dad". Social workers should also never refer to people by their diagnosis. A person’s diagnosis does not define who they are as an individual.

The second model is the person centred model. This model has previously been linked with learning disability services. It focuses on the views and goals of the service user instead of those of professionals or others. In the beginning it looks at who the person is and what they aspire to be. In this situation the social workers role is to assist the service user in putting across what they want for the future. This model requires the social worker to work in partnership with the service user. It is seen as a very empowering model. The final approach is the holistic approach. This focuses not only on the person but all factors that are relevant to the service user.

To assess Steffan I would use both the person centered approach and the holistic approach. It would be important for me to gain an understanding of how much Steffan knows about his situation to be able to assess whether or not he needs any help. This would be a big part of making sure that as Steffan's social worker I was not imposing how I thought he should feel about his situation. It would also be important for me to look at the environment in which Steffan is living and his family as both of these factors have a big influence on his development and well-being. By using the holistic approach I would also gain an insight into the rest f the family which would enable me to make referrals for an assessment of need to other departments and agencies to make sure that the family get all of the help that they need.

With regards to an assessment of a child, the child is the main focus of the assessment. The assessment looks at child development and involves working with children and their families. It works to build on strengths as well as identify difficulties. An assessment of a child in an on-going process and is carried out alongside other action and providing services. The Children Act (1989) provides the legal framework for the assessment of children. In particular section 47 and section 17. Section 47 relates to child protection and comes into force where there is reason to suspect that a child is being subjected to significant harm. Section 31 (10) if the Children Act 1989 defines "significant" as,

"Where the question of whether harm suffered by a child is significant turns on the child’s health or development, his health or development shall be compared with that which could reasonably be expected of a similar child."

Where it is suspected that a child is at risk of significant harm, consent does not have to be given by the child’s parents for an assessment to be undertaken, although it is always best to try and gain consent. Also in this case the Data Protection Act (1998) allows for certain information to be disclosed without the consent of the subject.

Section 17 relates to a "child in need" assessment. It places a duty on Local Authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children ‘in need’ who are living in the area and to ensure appropriate services are provided for them. A child is defined as being in need if they are unlikely to or have the opportunity of achieving a reasonable standard of health and development, their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without the provision of such services or they are disabled. To complete a "child in need" assessment consent must always be obtained from the child’s parents.

As Steffan's social worker I would be assessing him as a "child in need" as I do not believe that he is at risk of significant harm. For this assessment to take place I would need to gain the consent of Rhian and Rob. I think that by completing a "child in need" assessment I would be able to identify and ensures that need to be out in place to ensure that Steffan and Ffion continue to develop at a reasonable standard and be reasonably healthy. By undertaking my assessment I would be able to identify Steffan's needs and ensure that all relevant agencies are brought in to play their part in turning Steffan's life around. It is impossible for one agency to meet all of the needs of a child. Examples of agencies that would be involved would be education and health.

The Children Act (2004) established a new legal basis for working in partnership and planning. Its aim is to strengthen arrangements for children’s services in local authorities.

Both the Children Act 1989 and 2004 provided some of the legal framework for the document "Safeguarding Children: Working Together Under the Children Act 2004" (WAG, 2007). This document provides the framework for the ways in which organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The Welsh Assembly Government has taken on Seven Core Aims through which it will work to make sure that all children and young people have. They are, a flying start in life; a comprehensive range of education and learning opportunities; the best possible health and are free from abuse, victimisation and exploitation; access to play, leisure, sporting and cultural activities; are listened to, treated with respect, and have their race and cultural identity recognised; a safe home and a community which supports physical and emotional wellbeing; and are not disadvantaged by poverty.

The framework for the assessment of children in need and their families is set out in the form of a triangle. It covers three main areas which are the child’s developmental needs, for example, health and education, parenting capacity, for example, ensuring safety and stability, and family and environmental factors, for example, income and housing. Each area has ways in which it accesses knowledge and understanding of the needs of the child. These include seeing, observing, engaging, talking and doing activities.

There are specific timescales with regards to assessments of children. Social workers have one day after receiving the referral to decide whether or not to take action. To complete an initial assessment social workers have a maximum of seven working days and they need to make a decision whether or not to complete a core assessment within a maximum of thirty-five working days. At any one time social workers can be dealing with a number of cases. This can cause difficulties as they need to make sure that they are working to the deadlines on all of their cases. This is why it is very important for social workers to keep a diary and up to date records.

As Steffan’s social worker I would also be concerned about his mental health since Rhian’s accident. This is due to Rhian no longer acting the way she did before the accident. Steffan may be experiencing grief as a result of this. As a social worker I am unable to diagnose a mental illness so would need to complete a referral or a request for consultation to a mental health professional. Mental Health Professionals include psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and community psychiatric nurses amongst others.

The referral would need to be as specific as possible and would need to include an indication of a specialist need, the service that is required (in this case I would suggest a consultation, with a look to Steffan receiving therapy), the reason that you are prevented from providing that service and whether your involvement would be continued.

Working in partnership is a very important part of social work. Working in partnership is crucial with regards to core social work models and theoretical approaches, for example strengths, ecological and holistic approaches. Safeguarding Children: Working Together under the Children Act 2004 states that a shared responsibility,

"..depends crucially upon effective information sharing, collaboration and understanding between agencies and professionals."

Due to the family living in a former South Wales mining town, there may not be as many services immediately available to them. This could mean that they would need to travel to gain access to some services. This could be difficult as Rhian struggles to get around. As Steffan's social worker I would need to consider this and see if it would be possible to have people come to the family home to assist them, or arranging transport for the family to travel. This could be difficult as these provisions cost money. This is a very difficult issue for social workers to overcome. There is only a limited budget which is available, and all social workers are working towards gaining a share of that budget to assist their service user.

In conclusion, undertaking assessments is a very important part of a social workers role. It enables social workers to gain a wider picture of the service user and their influences, whether they come from their family, their environment, school or are a result of their health. The outcome of each assessment can be different for each service user, as all of their needs are different, this could depend on their age, gender or where they live.