We all want better lives for children and to support those in need before things reach crisis point. A new process has been developed known as the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) which aims to help staff working in children’s services gather and understand information about the needs and strengths of children and families they are working with.

The CAF is a standard form and is completed with the child and family and with their consent the CAF can be shared with other professionals and services in order to develop support packages for
families.

Said Jenny Coles, head of children and families, Luton Borough Council: “The Common Assessment Framework promotes a systematic, holistic approach to assessing the needs of children which will be common across children’s services. It will promote a shared understanding of children’s needs and early intervention to target support. This will also reduce the number and duration of assessments that children and families have undergone in the past. The CAF will also form the basis for more specialised assessments if required at
a later stage.”

Common Assessment Framework in Luton
Last autumn, over 250 staff from a wide variety of services including health visitors, family workers, Connexions, social care workers, education welfare service and school based staff undertook training so that they would be fully up to speed on how to implement this useful process as part of their roles when working with children and families.

Since January 2007, multi agency staff have been using CAF forms across Luton to provide information for individuals and teams of staff to support children and families. They are also being completed when referrals are being made to the new Multi Agency Area Family Support Panels that operate on a fortnightly basis. These panels provide a forum to allow multiagency staff working with one family to work together
closely to provide integrated packages of support.

Any referrals to the Social Care Initial Assessment Team that are not child protection related now also require staff to complete a CAF form as it has proven to provide good quality information regarding the family, children, and the services that they have been in contact with.

For further information on Common Assessment Framework contact: 
Dorothy Blackhall
Family Welfare Association,
Lewsey Learning Centre, 
Tomlinson Avenue,
Luton LU4 0QP. 
Tel 69 19 94 or mobile 07939 669 987. 
Email: Blackhall.Dorothy@ virgin.net

Sharing Information
Jenny Coles added: “A CAF form is not simply a “referral” form, it should be used to work with the family to identify how support can be offered. It is also an important means of sharing information that an assessment has been done to stop the child and family having to explain their circumstances to a variety of professionals.” To assist with this, Luton has set up a system to place details of completed CAF’s on a database.

The person completing the CAF form should forward details to the multi agency processes administrator, Alison Ladley on 01582 54 82 31 email: Alison.Ladley@luton.gov.uk