November 17, 2009

Family Assessment in Child Welfare

This report was written by Cheryl Smithgall, Elizabeth Jarpe-Ratner, Duck-Hye Yang, Jan DeCoursey, LaShaun Brooks, Robert Goerge. In recognition of the need for comprehensive family assessments, and in response to the concerns raised by the Child and Family Service Review (CFSR), the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) developed the Integrated Assessment (IA) program. The IA program partners child welfare caseworkers with licensed clinicians to provide better information about the functioning of children entering foster care and about child and family strengths, support systems, and service needs. The information- gathering activities and the collaborative process between the caseworker and IA screener are intended to produce better-quality child and family assessments, which in turn facilitate the development of better service plans. In short, it is anticipated that the IA process contributes to earlier and more appropriate interventions being identified and provided to the family. This report outlines the key components of the IA model and presents data on the extent to which the program as implemented adheres to the model. This report also draws on the experiences of frontline caseworkers to explore how the model is being utilized and implemented in practice.