Family Assessment

 

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Genogram ] [ Ecomap ]

This page will provide an overview of Family Assessment as a process, and a brief introduction to the 3 tools currently endorsed by the CLA ILF. You can Hyperlink to Genogram or Ecomap for the details of each model.

The Family Assessment Process: An Introduction

In retrospect, it is easy to understand why Ohio’s Child Protection system seems to emphasize Risk Assessment as the key tool for Family Assessment.  It has been an uphill struggle even to get this one instrument integrated consistently within the whole state, and with the associated increased demands on workers busy schedules, the addition of other elements of family assessment could easily seem overwhelming.

Notwithstanding the hard realities of allocating scarce resources, a family assessment – if it is to be comprehensive with a realistic expectation for some predictive ability – requires greater scope and depth than a risk assessment alone can yield.  There are other well-established and fundamentally sound tools in use in child protection today that, when coupled with a risk assessment, support a broader and deeper analysis of a family’s ability to protect its children. 

  The Case Load Analysis ILF and the Family Assessment team have done extensive development work on 2 of these tools – genogram and ecomap. This manual organizes and explains each individual tool, but with an emphasis on the inter-dependency among the tools within a family assessment process. In this manual we will cover:

A.       CLA Family Assessment Process

a.       The Model

b.      What the tools have in common

c.       How they differ

B.        Genogram

a.       The Model (Definition/Purpose/Conventions)

b.      Quality Measures

c.       Example

C.       Ecomap

a.       The Model (Definition/Purpose/Conventions)

b.      Quality Measures

c.       Example

D.       Risk Assessment

a.       The Model (Definition/Purpose/Conventions)

b.      Quality Measures

c.       Inter-rater Reliability Process

d.      Example

Section A:

For a Family Assessment model to be comprehensive and effective, it must yield results that:

1.   Have Some Predictive Ability

2.   Support Thorough Exploration of Connections and Relationships

3.   Support Classification of Family Needs

4.   Support Capturing of Dynamic Aspects of Family System

5.   Support Interactive Development with the Family

In order to accomplish this, the current CLA Family Assessment Model consists of 3 separate but highly inter-dependent tools - Genogram, Ecomap and Risk Assessment. Here is a summary of each, developed more fully in their respective sections later in this document:

Genogram

Definition

A genogram is a pictorial, multi-generational representation of familial relationships and patterns of behavior.

Purpose
To engage the family in pictorially summarizing and illustrating familial relationships and patterns of behavior within a family system in support of family assessment and intervention planning.

 

 Ecomap

Definition

A pictorial representation of a family’s connection to the persons and systems in their environment. It illustrates three separate dimensions for each connection:

1.      the strength of the connection- (weak, tenuous/uncertain, strong);

2.      the impact of the connection-   (no impact, draining resources/energy, providing  resources/energy);

3.      the quality of the connection (stressful).

Purpose

To support classification of family needs and decision-making about potential interventions.  Further, it is to create a shared awareness (between a family and their social worker) of the family’s significant connections, and the constructive and destructive influences those connections may be having.

 

Risk Assessment

Definition

A structured, systematic methodology for assessing and predicting the likelihood of future risk of child maltreatment".

Purpose

To systematically gather, with the family, information sufficient to transfer present knowledge of intra- familial abuse, neglect, strengths, and concerns into predictions of future risk of maltreatment.

Is there Redundancy Among the 3 tools?

Yes – there is a limited amount of carefully defined redundancy – no more than is absolutely necessary – where the belief is that the small amount of duplication is greatly outweighed by the additional insights into the family. What little duplication there is does not cause significant additional work nor does it make it difficult to find the information you need. On the contrary, once the inter-action of these 3 models is understood, it becomes significantly more clear where to look for needed information. Additionally, there are approaches to using the Genogram and Ecomap in combination that can minimize even the small amount of redundancy that does exists.

By the way, because I can use the handle of a screwdriver to pound in a nail, are the screwdriver and the hammer redundant?

Rest assured that no one involved in the development of this model has any motivation to advocate for usage of tools that don’t add value or that are so cumbersome or duplicative so as to strain limited resources even further.

Where exactly (and why) do the Tools Overlap?

 

Genogram and Risk Assessment

There are Flags on the genogram for the target family that repeat some of the elements of Risk Assessment. The existence of the flags on the genogram can be seen as a duplication with Risk Assessment, however the value added is that a quick glance at the genogram raises awareness of the existence of the issues, which can be explored in more details by reading the Risk Assessment. Without the genogram, one would need to read the entire Risk Assessment to cull out the details relevant to the target family.

When there are extended family members on the genogram that are not covered by the Risk Assessment, additional details about the flagged issues can be captured on the genogram – these issues would not be captured at all on the risk assessment.

Ecomap and Risk Assessment

There is absolutely an overlap between Element Z of the Risk Assessment (Social Connectedness) and the Ecomap. In fact, by definition, social connectedness is the focus of the ecomap. However, the ecomap allows for, at a quick glance, determination of the presence or absence of connections and then the details can be explored in the Risk Assessment.  The services to be utilized in the Risk Assessment may or may not partially repeat on the ecomap, but again the potential duplication is minimal.

Ecomap and Genogram

There is no overlap, except to the extent that someone addressed within the scope of family or extended family on the genogram might also be shown as a relevant connection for the target family. The effort required to illustrate this person on both instruments is minimal yet the existence of the person(s) on both the genogram and ecomap quickly highlights their influential position with the target family.

How are these 3 Tools Different?

Risk Assessment

·           Captures intra-familial relationships and connections

·           Does not Include Extended Family (Genogram does)

·           Is not Pictorial – But Narrative (Genogram and Ecomap display their information as pictures – generally easier to understand quickly

Genogram

·           Captures relationships and connections with the extended family

·           Does not Look at Environment – Ecomap Does

  Ecomap

·           Captures relationships and connections to the environment