In the previous blog (HERE), we looked at why it is so important to do individual assessments before making decisions about placements for children. In this blog, we will have a look at how individual assessments should be done. The short version: it is NOT a question of sitting across from a child for an hour with a clipboard with questions and rattle your way through them.
If you do individual assessments properly, and in a child-friendly way – as they should be done – they will need to be done over the course of several conversations with the child, in a way that is appropriate for the child’s age and level of understanding. The chances of getting the child to cooperate and of being able to gather the information that you need, are much higher if you engage the child in play or conversation, and only mildly steer this towards topics that you are interested in. This way the child will feel much less under pressure and may be more willing to open up to you.
Depending on the child’s background, you may need to spend some time with her before she is willing to really talk to you at all. It is important that individual assessments are done by a dedicated person, so one specific person for one specific child, to allow a relationship of trust to build up, and to have the opportunity to get to know the child and to use that knowledge to help her get through the assessments.
The assessments should be done by an experienced case worker, or by a counsellor who is experienced in counselling children and has been given training in doing assessments. When individual assessments are done with children in an institution, very often this is the closest thing to counselling they have ever had. There is a good chance that some of the questions or topics that come up may trigger a strong emotional response in the child. If this happens, the first priority should be helping the child cope with the situation and deal with what caused this reaction. Until this has been achieved, attempts to get more information should be postponed.
While allowing a child to just chat away can seem like a waste of time, that is not necessarily true. It does not just give an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with the child and show her that you have a real interest in her and are willing to listen, you may yet be surprised and end up with important information that you did not even know you needed. So, do give the child the opportunity to talk about the things she wants to talk about.
It is usually helpful to make sure that you do not put a desk between you and the child, or place yourself in a ‘removed’ position of ‘power’ in some other way. If you do, it may be much harder to get the child to open up. Rather, sitting next to her on a sofa, or even playing together on the floor, while you talk, may be much more effective in really building a connection.
To be able to allow the time spent with the child to flow naturally, it is useful to make sure that you are very familiar with the list of questions that forms the core of the individual assessment. Knowing what information you are looking for, prevents you having to look at a sheet of paper or a computer screen again and again – appearing distracted to the child – to make sure you are not forgetting about anything. Instead, refresh your memory before you sit down with the child and just let the conversation go where it will, while you are with her.
The next blog will give a report of the conference I am involved in next week, after that, I will get back to individual assessments and look at ‘who’ you want to get information from.
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