Assessments, Plans and TAF Guidance

Assessments and Plans During COVID (updated 13 July 2020)

This is general guidance for undertaking assessments and plans during the COVID period (first issued 7 April and updated 13 July 2020). This includes starting work with new families, and ongoing work with existing families.

COVID Assessments and Plans Guidance

What is Resilience and Why Does It Matter to Assessments and Plans?

Some people say resilience is 'individual grit' or the 'ability to bounce back or forward'. In Camden, we think it is wider than that.

Resilience relates not just to how we think, but who or what can help us get back on track when things feel difficult. This means our 'resources'.

Those resources might be emotional, social, material, financial and environmental. They might be our own individual resources, or they might be the collective resources of our social support network, our community, our local services, or the society we live in.

To be resilient, we need to know:

what or who our resources are (who or what is there for me)
how to access those resources (I can ask for help from myself or others and that's always okay)
that the resources are consistent and sustainable (those people or things will be there when we need them)

If we have resources, we can build our world with strength and confidence. We can draw on those resources in difficult moments to help us feel stronger. This applies to children, parents and families.

When we do assessments and plans, we are both exploring the 'why now' question, and trying to help a family identify and strengthen their resources so they can use them now and in the future.

Here is an image to keep us curious about what resilience means.

What does resilience mean to you? Can you think of a time when you had to find resilience, and what or who helped you to feel stronger? What resources did you draw on?

Assessment Guiding Principles (Core)

The core skills and principles of Resilient Families family work apply as much during this crisis as at any other time (acknowledging of course that these things may be more challenging to achieve when our work is partially or fully remote):

Assessment Guiding Principles (detailed)

Nicky and Roisin from our Practice Development Team worked with service managers to write a detailed set of Guiding Principles for Early Help Assessment. These are well worth a read so you know what to include in your assessment and tools to use to help you. You can find the Guiding Principles here

Assessment Procedure

Here is the procedure to follow for completing assessments

TAF Procedure

Here is the procedure to follow for initial TAFs and TAF reviews

Resilient Families Materials to Support Assessment and Plans

You can find all the Resilient Families materials to support assessments and plans on the Guidebook Resilient Families section here:

https://ascpractice.camden.gov.uk/early-help-guide/resilient-families-practice/

Or on the Resilient Families e-learning module here (search for Introduction to Resilient Families, and click the Resilient Families resources tile)

https://camden.learningpool.com/login/index.php

and a number of the Resilient Families tools are in the Remote Direct Work Kit Bag here

https://ascpractice.camden.gov.uk/early-help-guide/family-early-help-covid-guidebook/fscf-procedures-during-covid/remote-direct-work-kit-bag/

Family Resilience Framework