Introduction
It is known to us that child needs assessment and family needs assessment are quite common in our daily life. And child needs assessment and family needs assessment are necessary because they can help provide guidance as for case planning and intervention so that the problems of children and family can be better catered to in the reality. Therefore this paper would like to explore both the child needs assessment and family needs assessment, during which the scenario 6- Ronnie 7 years old will be taken as example. It is hoped that such analysis can help provide some insightful suggestions as for how to better deal with the problems of Ronnie and his family.
Child Needs Assessment & Family Needs Assessment
Firstly, the child needs assessment will be elaborated on. To put it more specifically, child needs assessment is to assess if the child’s needs guides intervention planning and is guided by what the child needs to be safe and not by what the parent needs to do to make the child safe (Benner, Susan M; Grim, Joan C. 2013). Though such different is subtle, it is still important in that it can help indicate that what the child needs to be safe is more important. If we apply it to the scenario 6, it can be easily found that Ronnie needs to be safe when his personal problems have been solved, like always being tired and hungry at school, personal hygiene problem, complaints from other children, etc. It is not hard to detect that Ronnie may feel unsafe due to the influence from all these problems, which needs to be solved in order that Ronnie can become safe.
Also, in addition to a child’s safety, attention needs to be paid to a child’s developmental needs including education, identity, social and emotional development and self care (Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. 1990). Parenting capacity including willingness and ability to ensure safety, provide emotional warmth, stimulation and boundaries (Ward, Harriet; Rose, Wendy. 2002). Here the “social and emotional development” and “emotional warmth” both refers to the necessity to pay attention to the emotional aspect of the child. However, in this given scenario, social and emotional development for Ronnie doesn’t seem promising because it seems that he doesn’t get along well with other children, which can be readily detected from the called names he gets from his personal hygiene.
Apart from that, it is further added that needs are conceptual including attachment, coping, safety, security, stability, stimulation, etc. (Helm, Duncan. 2010). Based on this, a fair knowledge can be obtained that attachment matters the most for Ronnie because he is often home alone so that he may not have the chance to be with his mother. As a result, his attachment may not be satisfied in the reality. In addition, environmental and family factors including connectedness to community and family, family history and functioning, housing, and income are another aspect to consider in the child needs assessment (Cohen, Libby G. 2011). When applying it to Ronnie, what has to be pointed out is that Ronnie’s doesn’t have much money, which can well show that his family is with low income.
With the child needs assessment being explained at length in the above, what follows next is the family needs assessment. Detailed speaking, family needs assessment is vital to work with families to establish a clear picture of their history, their functioning and their situation. This process should be considered a crucial opportunity to establish a positive working relationship which is an important aspect to the potential change effort (Adilman, Audrey. 1984). In this sense, it can be easily imagined that family needs assessment can play a key role in how the whole family will develop in the long run.
In addition, a practitioner demonstrates their willingness and ability to work honestly, respectfully and collaboratively (Alsern, M.W. 2014). Based on this, what is a shame to say is that Ronnie’s mother is not such a practitioner and she tends not to work collaboratively, honestly and respectfully because she seems to have lied to Ronnie that she has to work long hours. But as a matter of fact, she is always drinking at the pub. Besides, it has been stated that social interaction patterns include the nature of contact and involvement with others, and the absence or presence of social relationships and support networks (Mundy, Cynthia A. 2010). However, the case does not happen in that way at all because other parents just suggest that Ronnie’s mother is always drinking at the pub while they have offered any kind of help to her or her family at all.
Furthermore, the family needs assessment have to involve in parenting practices, like discipline methods, supervision patterns, the emotional needs of children and the understanding of child development (Mainstone, Fiona. 2014), which is clearly not existent in Ronnie’s family. At the same time, background and history of the caregivers or parents, such as the history of abuse and neglect, as well have to be considered in the family needs assessment. Luckily, the history of abuse does not appear in Ronnie’s family while the history of neglect may be a problem in Ronnie’s family because Ronnie is often home alone. When it comes to the problems in access to basic necessities such as adequate housing, child care, employment, income, transportation together with other needed services and supports, what is a must to mention is that Ronnie’s family is one with low income, which can be predicted from Ronnie’s words that his mother doesn’t have much money.
Last but not the least, several additional behaviors and conditions have been related to child maltreatment, such as alcohol and drug use, disabilities, domestic violence, mental illness, poor physical health, etc., have to be taken into account in the family needs assessment (Murray, Heather M. 2006). According to this, it can be easily found out that Ronnie’s mother’s always drinking at the pub will exert great impacts on the behavior of Ronnie. Or maybe it can be put in another way that Ronnie may learn the bad habit of alcohol use from his mother, which is not conducive