Family Assessment Report

Family Assessment Report

(Insert Organisations Name here)

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

(Date of Report)

Family member/s (preferred names, pronouns, ages, cultural identities):

(List the names, pronouns, ages and cultural identities of each family member here)

Penny (she/her) is aged 42 years old has a deceased husband named Ed (he/him). They have two children. The oldest is Jimmy (he/him) is 15 years old and is in grade 10. The younger daughter is named Angela (she/her) and is 7 years old. Pennys family are Wiradyuri, an Aboriginal nation that spans across a large area of what is now known as New South Wales, and the family currently lives on Country in Bathurst. Eds family are the Yuggera/Jagera people from what is now known as Queensland.

Social Worker Name / Position: (Insert your full name here, and organisational title)

Chanel Maroun / School Social Worker

Introduction: Family background and current situation

In this section you may wish to include:

What brought the family to the attention of your service i.e. referral from another service, self-referral, client/s were assessed as eligible for your service

The familys current situation, including living situation/s, nature of family relationships, any concerns the family members have

A description of the work you have done with the family / individual family members so far i.e. how many times you have met with them, and the focus of your meetings / work so far

Jimmy made an appointment with the help of his careers advisor to talk about options around school and work after the school year is finished because he is finding it hard to cope due to family problems at home.

After losing Ed is has been hard for the family to financially cope has, he was the primary income earner for the family. Penny has also been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 18 months ago. Its impacted the family as there has been a lot of pressure to deal with Pennys health and financial issues and has been hard for Penny to now work and care for her children. This has now impact Jimmy as he cannot balance his social and educational life while taking more jobs to help his family.

I have met with Jimmy and his mother Penny once before. We discussed the situation they are in and how it has impacted with them. We focused on what they want to achieve such as Jimmy wanting to know more options around school and work after school years have finished to help his family.

Family strengths, needs and goals

In this section you may wish to include literature and evidence and/or theories and models to draw upon:

An account of the strengths, qualities and resources of individual family members, relationships, the family as a whole and their extended networks (think micro/meso/macrosystems and interactions/relationships between these systems)

Jimmy has shown many strengths such as taking a big responsibility to work and support and support his family. The qualities he demonstrates is taking a big responsibility for someone his age to help and care for his family. Jimmys resources is working and potentially finishing school and becoming successful.

Despite Penny having MS her strengths include being supportive for her kids and wanting them to do what they like. Penny takes up every opportunity she is able to work. She shows qualities of being loving after all she has gone through.

Angela is a young girl growing up into a supportive family. She shows strengths of being there for her family and still learning potentially one day to grow and support her family.

The family have been through a lot although there is a strong bond with one another. They value each others wellbeing and have goals they help each other reach.

An account of the acts of resistance and expressions of resilience of individual family members / relationships

Although Jimmy has faced many challenges, he shows resilience by continuing his education to achieve his dreams and become a teacher. He also still is trying to support and help his family financially by taking on weekend work.

Despite Pennys diagnosis of MS, she still is very resilient by showing her support for her children and is determines to take up as much work as she can with her part-time job.

Although Angela is still young and growing up she shows resilience by adapting to the change that is happening and being with her family is supportive enough.

The family show resilience as they all have a close bond with one another and are open to try new things they want to do to support each other.

The familys stated goals and/or needs

Jimmy spoke about how he misses soccer and wants to try and include it in his everyday life. Penny wants to start looking at what she can do in the future to prepare her family because the doctors are telling her that her MS progression is unknown and wants to know easier ways to earn money with her health. Jimmy wants to become a teacher which he needs support and guidance.

Plan for work with the family

This section must include:

Key theories and models that inform your ongoing work with the family, which can be integrated throughout the section (think about critical social work-informed models and theories!)

And should also include a plan for ongoing work with the family that is clearly justified/relevant and in line with the information presented elsewhere in the report. Elements of a plan for ongoing work could include:

Agreed goals: remember, goals should be (Trotter, 2013: 149-153):

Achievable

Agreed upon by family members

Measurable

Mapped to both short and long-term goals, with timeframes

Timeframe for review or renegotiation of the plan, which could include discussion of how and where plan will be reviewed; plan for ongoing consultation and review with family members; plan of action/what will happen if the situation escalates i.e. if a child or young person is in danger or at risk of harm (this will depend on your case scenario)

A summary of any recommendations you are making to your team/management in regards to ongoing work with the family

Reflective account

In this section you are advised to draw upon literature and evidence to reflect on your knowing, being and doing and ethical practice with this family (Lefevre et al, 2008). This section may include reflections on the following (it is up to you to choose what is relevant and significant for you as a social worker, engaging with this particular family):

Your personal values / experiences / assumptions / biases. These may relate to your identity / identity of your clients, privileges including but not limited to class, race, gender, sexuality, ability and so on

The use of power / power dynamics between yourself and the family member/s, the organisation and yourself/family members, and perhaps power dynamics within the family. This may include a reflection on dominant discourses, the context of practice and the mandate of your organisation/agency

Professional social work values and ethics relevant to work with this family, and how you will embody and uphold these

Any gaps in your knowing/being/doing with this family and how you might work to address these gaps

Any other ethical considerations for work with this family

We advise you to include a brief concluding paragraph

Reference List

Ensure this contains a minimum of 7 high-quality academic references, presented in APA-style. Also ensure the reference list contains an alphabetical list by author surname of only the references included in-text.

Appendices

Appendices can be included if you think they are relevant to the Family Assessment Report. Appendices are not essential, are not included in the word count of your paper and attract no marks. If you do include appendices, please ensure they appear within a single document i.e. are attached to the bottom of your Family Assessment Report. Please label any appendices Appendix A, Appendix B and so on.

Possible appendices you may wish to include:

Family case scenario (cut and pasted from the Assessment 3 Instructions)

Family genogram (please include a key for symbols/relationships)

Family eco-map or culturagram (please include a key for symbols/relationships)

A brief description or graphic of a theory or model

Family Assessment Report

(Insert Organisations Name here)

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

(Date of Report)

Family member/s (preferred names, pronouns, ages, cultural identities):

(List the names, pronouns, ages and cultural identities of each family member here)

Penny (she/her) is aged 42 years old has a deceased husband named Ed (he/him). They have two children. The oldest is Jimmy (he/him) is 15 years old and is in grade 10. The younger daughter is named Angela (she/her) and is 7 years old. Pennys family are Wiradyuri, an Aboriginal nation that spans across a large area of what is now known as New South Wales, and the family currently lives on Country in Bathurst. Eds family are the Yuggera/Jagera people from what is now known as Queensland.

Social Worker Name / Position: (Insert your full name here, and organisational title)

Chanel Maroun / School Social Worker

Introduction: Family background and current situation

In this section you may wish to include:

What brought the family to the attention of your service i.e. referral from another service, self-referral, client/s were assessed as eligible for your service

The familys current situation, including living situation/s, nature of family relationships, any concerns the family members have

A description of the work you have done with the family / individual family members so far i.e. how many times you have met with them, and the focus of your meetings / work so far

Jimmy made an appointment with the help of his careers advisor to talk about options around school and work after the school year is finished because he is finding it hard to cope due to family problems at home.

After losing Ed is has been hard for the family to financially cope has, he was the primary income earner for the family. Penny has also been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 18 months ago. Its impacted the family as there has been a lot of pressure to deal with Pennys health and financial issues and has been hard for Penny to now work and care for her children. This has now impact Jimmy as he cannot balance his social and educational life while taking more jobs to help his family.

I have met with Jimmy and his mother Penny once before. We discussed the situation they are in and how it has impacted with them. We focused on what they want to achieve such as Jimmy wanting to know more options around school and work after school years have finished to help his family.

Family strengths, needs and goals

In this section you may wish to include literature and evidence and/or theories and models to draw upon:

An account of the strengths, qualities and resources of individual family members, relationships, the family as a whole and their extended networks (think micro/meso/macrosystems and interactions/relationships between these systems)

Jimmy has shown many strengths such as taking a big responsibility to work and support and support his family. The qualities he demonstrates is taking a big responsibility for someone his age to help and care for his family. Jimmys resources is working and potentially finishing school and becoming successful.

Despite Penny having MS her strengths include being supportive for her kids and wanting them to do what they like. Penny takes up every opportunity she is able to work. She shows qualities of being loving after all she has gone through.

Angela is a young girl growing up into a supportive family. She shows strengths of being there for her family and still learning potentially one day to grow and support her family.

The family have been through a lot although there is a strong bond with one another. They value each others wellbeing and have goals they help each other reach.

An account of the acts of resistance and expressions of resilience of individual family members / relationships

Although Jimmy has faced many challenges, he shows resilience by continuing his education to achieve his dreams and become a teacher. He also still is trying to support and help his family financially by taking on weekend work.

Despite Pennys diagnosis of MS, she still is very resilient by showing her support for her children and is determines to take up as much work as she can with her part-time job.

Although Angela is still young and growing up she shows resilience by adapting to the change that is happening and being with her family is supportive enough.

The family show resilience as they all have a close bond with one another and are open to try new things they want to do to support each other.

The familys stated goals and/or needs

Jimmy spoke about how he misses soccer and wants to try and include it in his everyday life. Penny wants to start looking at what she can do in the future to prepare her family because the doctors are telling her that her MS progression is unknown and wants to know easier ways to earn money with her health. Jimmy wants to become a teacher which he needs support and guidance.

Plan for work with the family

This section must include:

Key theories and models that inform your ongoing work with the family, which can be integrated throughout the section (think about critical social work-informed models and theories!)

And should also include a plan for ongoing work with the family that is clearly justified/relevant and in line with the information presented elsewhere in the report. Elements of a plan for ongoing work could include:

Agreed goals: remember, goals should be (Trotter, 2013: 149-153):

Achievable

Agreed upon by family members

Measurable

Mapped to both short and long-term goals, with timeframes

Timeframe for review or renegotiation of the plan, which could include discussion of how and where plan will be reviewed; plan for ongoing consultation and review with family members; plan of action/what will happen if the situation escalates i.e. if a child or young person is in danger or at risk of harm (this will depend on your case scenario)

A summary of any recommendations you are making to your team/management in regards to ongoing work with the family

Reflective account

In this section you are advised to draw upon literature and evidence to reflect on your knowing, being and doing and ethical practice with this family (Lefevre et al, 2008). This section may include reflections on the following (it is up to you to choose what is relevant and significant for you as a social worker, engaging with this particular family):

Your personal values / experiences / assumptions / biases. These may relate to your identity / identity of your clients, privileges including but not limited to class, race, gender, sexuality, ability and so on

The use of power / power dynamics between yourself and the family member/s, the organisation and yourself/family members, and perhaps power dynamics within the family. This may include a reflection on dominant discourses, the context of practice and the mandate of your organisation/agency

Professional social work values and ethics relevant to work with this family, and how you will embody and uphold these

Any gaps in your knowing/being/doing with this family and how you might work to address these gaps

Any other ethical considerations for work with this family

We advise you to include a brief concluding paragraph

Reference List

Ensure this contains a minimum of 7 high-quality academic references, presented in APA-style. Also ensure the reference list contains an alphabetical list by author surname of only the references included in-text.

Appendices

Appendices can be included if you think they are relevant to the Family Assessment Report. Appendices are not essential, are not included in the word count of your paper and attract no marks. If you do include appendices, please ensure they appear within a single document i.e. are attached to the bottom of your Family Assessment Report. Please label any appendices Appendix A, Appendix B and so on.

Possible appendices you may wish to include:

Family case scenario (cut and pasted from the Assessment 3 Instructions)

Family genogram (please include a key for symbols/relationships)

Family eco-map or culturagram (please include a key for symbols/relationships)

A brief description or graphic of a theory or model