June 8, 2009

Standard: Immediate Safety, Comprehensive, and Ongoing Assessment

This report provides guidance to the Children and Family Services (CFS) programs regarding Immediate Safety Assessment, Comprehensive Risk Assessment, Reassessment, and ongoing assessment services. It is intended to achieve statewide consistency in the development and application of CFS core services and to be implemented in all-applicable laws, rules and policies. The report also provides a measurement for program accountability. Since safety is a central concern of child protection services and foster care practice, confusion exists in child welfare practice as to when a child is safe or not. All child protection referrals assigned a priority response are assessed for safety. The immediate safety assessment process should involve the family's own perceptions and other significant case circumstances that may impact family functioning. A Comprehensive Assessment is a more thorough analysis of safety and risk that helps evaluate the likelihood that a child may be abused or maltreated in the future. The Immediate Safety Assessment, Comprehensive Assessment, and Reassessment instruments are designed to guide social workers in making critical case decisions. This document assists CFS staff in differentiating safety from risk, safety plans from service plans, and understanding the purpose and process for using each of the instruments.