The Training Programme

Child and Family Training run courses on a series of standardised assessment tools and approaches to analysis and planning to help professionals working with children and their families. The training provides professionals with essential skills in making evidence-based assessments of children’s developmental needs, parenting capacity and family and environmental factors as well as planning how to intervene. The training is based on an action-based learning approach, with gaps between training days for participants to use the assessment tools in their work context as part of the training process. Working with managers to support, supervise and audit trail the effective use of the tools and approaches by their staff forms a further component of the training programme.

The training courses are designed for professionals in health, children's social care, education, the police and independent sector organisations who work with children and families.

Assessing parenting the family life of children, including disabled children, using the HOME Inventory and Family Pack of Questionnaires and Scales
This 3-day course trains participants to use the HOME Inventory (Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment) and the Family Pack of Questionnaires and Scales. The HOME assesses parenting and a child’s experience of the care and home environment provided by their parent/carer, including disabled children. The Questionnaires and Scales, provide an economical and effective way of gathering information about emotional and behavioural difficulties in both children and adults, parenting problems, recent life events, mental health difficulties, alcohol problems and the quality of family life, A model of analysis and planning interventions and identifying and measuring outcomes using the Assessment Framework triangle is introduced and applied. The training is suitable for a wide range of staff including those involved in initial, core and parenting assessments as well as reports for court in care proceedings under the Public Law Outline, assessments for Private Law cases relating to residence and contact issues and in the fostering and adoption context. [more information]

Assessing families in complex child care cases using the Family Assessment
This 3-day course trains professionals in the use of the Family Assessment which provides a systematic and evidence-based approach for observing, describing and assessing family life, relationships, parenting and the impact of family history. Course members also develop skills in engaging and working with children and families during the assessment process. A model of analysis and planning interventions and identifying and measuring outcomes using the Assessment Framework triangle completes the training. The Family Assessment is particularly helpful in complex childcare cases where an assessment of the impact of family relationships/parenting difficulties on children’s development is required, e.g. core and safeguarding assessments and in care proceedings under the Public Law Outline or Private Law cases relating to residence and contact issues. [more information]

Giving children a voice: direct work with children using the In My Shoes Interview
A 2-day course providing training in the use of In My Shoes - a computer-assisted interview for communicating with children, young people and vulnerable adults. Using a laptop together with a mouse each, the interviewer and child/young person work through a series of interactive modules which help facilitate communication about the child’s experiences in the various settings in their lives. In My Shoes uses images to represent people, places and emotions and is therefore very useful for direct work with young children and those with attention, communication or learning difficulties.
It is an effective tool for:

• exploring and assessing a child's experiences related to home, school, their foster or adoptive
families, friends and during contact
• helping children talk about troubling experiences (e.g. maltreatment, separation, loss and trauma)
• involving a child or young person in life story work
• gathering children and young people’s thoughts, wishes and feelings about plans for their future
• enabling them to participate in reviews, planning meetings and preparing for moves

Using the Attachment Style Interview in adoption and fostering or child care contexts
A 4-day intensive training in the use of the Attachment Style Interview (ASI) to assess the attachment style of adults, in terms of secure and insecure styles, the quality of their close relationships, including their partner/marital relationship, and their patterns of support and relating to others. In the fostering and adoption context, the ASI is useful in assessing potential adoptive parents and foster/kinship carers, helping to identify suitable matches with children and planning how best to provide support.

In assessments of children in need and where there are safeguarding concerns, the ASI helps to assess strengths and vulnerabilities in adults' attachment styles and the nature of their close relationships, attitudes towards relating to others and access to and use of support.

Course members are trained to use the ASI categories, interview approach and rating system. The training also helps staff to plan how to implement and integrate the use of the ASI in either adoption and fostering or child care contexts. [more information]

Evidence-based assessment, analysis and planning in complex cases where there are continuing safeguarding concerns
In this new training, course members will be trained to use the model for safeguarding assessments described in a newly published book Safeguarding children living with trauma and family violence: evidence-based assessment, analysis and planning interventions(2009) Arnon Bentovim, Antony Cox, Liza Bingley Miller and Stephen Pizzey. London:Jessica Kingsley Publishers. The authors are all members of the Child and Family Training team.

The training will equip course members to:

• Evaluate the level of strengths and difficulties in the domains and dimensions of the Assessment Framework triangle
• Assess the impact of parenting on the child’s needs and the level of harm or likelihood of harm to the child and create a profile of harm
• Make a systemic analysis of the factors and processes leading to harm as well as protective factors
• Assess the risks of further harm/re-abuse and prospects for rehabilitation and plan for intervention

• An advanced 2-day training for those who have successfully completed either the ‘Assessing Parenting’ or the ‘Assessing Families’ training described earlier.
• A 5-day training (with gaps between training days) for those who have not completed this training.