FAMILY ASSESSMENT FORM
FREQUENTLY ASKED PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1) FAF Rating/Scoring Questions
a) Do all the FAF items need to be rated?
Yes. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of a family it is important to
gather all the information asked for in the FAF. It is also important, as a matter of
respect, to take the time to get to know the family, their strengths and resources, how
they have attempted to deal with their problems, etc. before attempting to intervene or
making suggestions about family changes. If workers move to “help” the family too
soon, they may not be addressing the most important or core issues impacting family
functioning and/or child safety, and they may lose the family’s engagement.
There are a few items that offer an NA (Not Applicable) option when this is appropriate.
For example, if there is only one child in the family it is not possible to rate item E4:
Deals with Sibling Interactions. Workers are encouraged to make their best judgment as
to how to rate items with the information they have available and to build their skills in
addressing items that are more difficult or uncomfortable.
Statistically, at least 80% of the items in a factor have to be completed for the FAF
software to consider this item complete and therefore be included in FAF reports. If
fewer than 80% of the items in any one factor are completed, that case will not be
included in FAF reports. This “80% rule” was established as part of the reliability/validity
research done on the FAF.
b) Do you have to add up the ratings in each section to get an overall rating for
each section?
No. The FAF software computes factor averages for reporting purposes. A factor
average is calculated by adding up all the item scores in a factor and dividing that sum
by the number of items in the factor.
c) Is there an overall FAF score once the instrument is completed?
No. There is no one score for the entire FAF assessment. There are only factor
averages for each of the six FAF outcome measures, factors A-F.
d) If new information is obtained following the initial completion of the FAF, for
example on the 5th visit, should you change your initial rating?
No. Once you have completed the initial assessment ratings within the established initial
assessment period, typically 3-4 weeks or sessions with the family, you do not change
these “baseline” ratings.
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e) If on the 5th or 6th home visit, the home visitor observes change relating to a
particular FAF item, should the home visitor change the initial rating on that item
to reflect that change?
No, see answer above. If you were to change them during the course of service, you
would be much less likely to see change between initial and termination ratings and
therefore weaken your ability to report program outcomes.
2) Timing Issues Related to Completion of FAF Assessments Questions
a) When do you begin the FAF when you learn on your first contact with a family
that they have immediate needs such as for food or shelter?
The FAF should not interfere with good practice, forming a relationship, and responding
to a family’s immediate needs. Clearly, if a family has a crisis that needs to be
addressed immediately, the worker needs to address the crisis. At the same time
however, the worker is learning about how this family functions and is making
observations about the family’s environment, financial situation, interactions, etc. These
observations allow the worker to begin completing the FAF following a first contact even
in cases of crisis and while helping the family through the crisis.
b) If a family is in chronic crisis, when do you complete the FAF?
See answer above. Many families are in chronic crisis and it may seem like there is
never a good time to take the time to ask about issues on the FAF. By not taking this
time to understand the family in a comprehensive way, workers may be loosing the
opportunity to help figure out why the family is in constant crisis and to help them break
this cycle.
c) What happens if you rate an item after the first home visit and then learn new
information in the second or third home visit that would change your rating?
Use information and observations from all contacts during the established assessment
period. Workers may change their FAF ratings within this initial assessment period,
typically 3-4 weeks or sessions with the family, based on new information. They may
NOT change ratings following the completion of the initial “baseline” ratings.
d) What happens if a family cancels home visits or is not at home for visits during
the allotted assessment period, typically 3-4 weeks?
While this is a programmatic decision to be decided by each agency or collaborative,
generally it is recommended that workers be given the full amount of time with families
e.g. 3-4 sessions or a specified number of contact hours, in order to complete the FAF
and thereby take into account families that may cancel or “no-show.”
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e) What do you do if a family withdraws from service or disappears before the initial
FAF is completed?
If a worker is unable to complete an initial assessment due to a family withdrawing from
service or disappearing, this case would be closed and a termination FAF assessment
would not be completed.
f) Do you complete a termination FAF rating if the family terminates services shortly
after the initial assessment and before you have begun to work on achieving the
goals established in their service plan?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by agencies or a collaborative. Generally, it
is recommended that agencies or a collaborative determine a minimum amount of time
that seems reasonable for the program to have some impact on the family. FAF
termination ratings would then be completed on families that remained in service for that
minimum amount of time. In the example given in this question, if no work had been
begun or done on achieving goals in the service plan, it is recommended that this family
not receive a termination FAF assessment. Remember, if a lot of termination FAF
ratings are included for families that did not receive services, this would impact an
agency’s or collaborative’s overall program outcomes.
g) Do you complete a termination FAF rating if the family has not completed
services but has been in the program for several months?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by agencies or a collaborative. See
answers to the questions just above and below this question. Termination FAF ratings
can be completed on a family even if it is not a planned termination and/or services
were not completed according to the program model. As part of program evaluation you
want to include as many pre/post FAFs as possible to reflect your work with families.
You also want to guard against biasing the outcomes by only selecting families for study
that you feel or think made good progress. In other words, you have to have a
reasonable policy standard for families that are and are not included in the evaluation
data.
h) What is the minimum amount of time that needs to pass between the completion
of an initial and termination FAF assessment?
While there is not a scientific answer to this question, it is recommended that a
minimum of 3 months of active service following the initial assessment ratings, as
defined by a certain number of client contacts or hours of face-to-face service, be
received by the family before completing termination FAF ratings. This was the program
model used in the initial FAF research that determined the validity and reliability of the
tool with the average amount of service being about 4 months in that study.
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3) FAF Item/Section Definition Questions
a) How do you handle it if the “operational definition” does not apply to a particular
family?
The operational definitions are examples of the kinds of things a worker might hear,
see, experience, and etc. while in the home; they are not a complete list of all
possibilities. If the operational definitions do not give enough guidance to the worker in
making a rating selection, the worker should first look at the Overall Meaning of the
Ratings that can be found on the Help menu, under Help Topics. Here the worker will
see that the ratings fall along the continuum of above average strength to situations that
are endangering to the health, safety and well-being of children. Sometimes when the
operational definitions do not seem to fit the family, these broader overall meanings
make more sense.
b) What do you do if an item is not applicable to a particular family?
The FAF software includes an “Item Not Applicable” check box for a select number of
items. These include: B3, C3, D3, 4, 5, 8, 11, E4, G7 and the entire F section. These
items have been given this option for reasons explained as part of the definitions for
those items. For example, item E4 deals with sibling interactions and if the family only
has one child this would not apply. Items D3, D4, D5, D8, and D11 are items that
practitioners did not think were applicable to infants under 6 months old so these items
have the “Item Not Applicable” check box. Section F is not applicable if it is a single
parent family or only one caregiver is being assessed.
As stated in an earlier question, it is preferable to complete as many items as possible
and not to use the “Item Not Applicable” option unless absolutely necessary. When the
“Item Not Applicable” check box is selected, the system counts this as a completed item
for purposes of calculating factor averages and running reports.
c) In the Living Conditions factor there are some items that are NOT WITHIN the
family’s control. Why are these assessed? Doesn’t this “blame” the family for
situations that they cannot do anything about?
Initially there was only one item related to safety outside the home and one for
cleanliness and orderliness outside the home. Practitioners felt it important to separate
these items into things that were and were not in the family’s control so as NOT to
blame the family. These are areas that may create stress on the family and it is
important to understand this. Additionally, these may be areas in which the worker can
assist the family. For example, if there are safety issues in the building, the worker may
be able advocate with the owner or involve local code enforcement authorities.
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d) Item C1: Support from Friends and Neighbors and Community Involvement, does
this include extended family support also?
No. Interestingly when the factor analysis was done to determine the validity and
reliability of the factors and items, extended family support did not cluster with this item.
Therefore, this item refers to non-family member support.
e) C4: Available Health Care, does this refer to health care for the children or for the
adults also?
This item refers to available health care for the children in the family. Workers may
make notes in the Strengths/Concerns boxes about health care needs of the adults.
f) Which FAF item addresses dangers in the neighborhood like gang activity, crime,
etc.?
There is not a FAF item that includes these issues. In an earlier version of the FAF
there was an item about community safety but it did not work well from a practice or
research point of view. Workers may want to make notes about these concerns in one
of the Strengths/Concerns boxes or on the Case Log form, Case Log tab at the bottom
in the comments text field.
g) For Question G8: Extended Family Support how is extended family defined?
However the family defines their extended family. This may include blood relatives and
non-blood relatives.
h) In the Behavioral Concerns/Observational Checklist section, what do the
columns for “staff” and “caregiver” mean?
“Caregiver” refers to the one or two caregivers that the worker entered as part of the
Intake section and for whom they are completing FAF items. “Staff” refers to the home
visitor or other professionals involved with the family such as a child care provider,
DCFS worker, physician, etc. The worker may check one or both of these check boxes
to indicate who has observed or reported the behavior in question.
i) In the Intake section, what is the primary caregiver checkbox for? Do I have to
check it for one of the caregivers?
Whichever caregiver is entered as Caregiver 1 is automatically considered the primary
caregiver by the FAF program. Therefore, you may check this box for this person but
are not required to. If the worker wants the person entered as Caregiver 2 to be the
primary caregiver, then this box needs to be checked to over ride the system’s default.
The significance of this is in how the system calculates reports. For aggregate reports
the system considers all Caregiver 1 entries as the primary caregiver and therefore
compiles Caregiver 1 item or factor averages where appropriate, unless the primary
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caregiver check box has been checked in which case the system will include the item
and factor averages for the person indicated as primary caregiver.
4) Strengths/Concerns Text Box Questions
a) Do you need to write notes in all the Strengths/Concerns boxes?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by supervisors, agencies or a collaborative.
Generally, it is important to record strengths and concerns for a few reasons: 1) the FAF
serves as the primary documentation and notes for the worker’s first 3-4 visits with a
family, 2) notes help workers remember why they rated a family a 4 instead of a 3 on a
particular item. Supervisors may ask workers why they thought a family had a problem
of a major nature and the worker needs to be able to provide objective reasons for a
rating, 3) notes help distinguish concerns or strengths a worker sees for different family
members. For example, Caregiver 1 may be very resourceful while Caregiver 2 may be
reluctant to seek outside help from community resources, 4) the FAF ratings only tell
part of the story about a family’s strengths and concerns in a general way; notes help
complete the picture the make the assessment more human.
Workers do NOT need to include both strength and concerns comments in these boxes;
some items may be only strengths and others may be only concerns.
b) How are the Strengths/Concerns text boxes to be used?
First, these are the workers notes made as part of their initial assessment contacts with
families. In most cases, workers are not expected to keep additional notes in some
other format. In addition to the reasons listed in the above question, strengths and
concerns comments are also important for supervisors and other workers who may
have to back-up a colleague during vacations, days off, illness, etc. The FAF ratings
combined with brief notes give others reviewing the family assessment a quick way to
see areas of family strengths and areas of concern that may need to be addressed.
5) Caregiver 1 & 2 Questions
a) How do you decide who is caregiver 1 and 2 in a traditional two caregiver family?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by agencies or a collaborative. It is
important that a decision be made and communicated so that data is entered
consistently among workers and between agencies. Generally, it is recommended that
the mother be listed as Caregiver 1 since she is typically the primary caregiver and the
father as Caregiver 2. Remember that whichever person gets entered as Caregiver 1 is
considered as the primary caregiver by the system.
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b) How do you determine who Caregiver 1 and 2 are when you are working with a
teen parent living with her mother or another caregiver figure?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by supervisors, agencies or a collaborative.
Generally, programs working with teen parents are focusing their efforts on that teen
and the teen’s baby. Therefore the teen parent would be listed as Caregiver 1.
Programs often decide not to enter the teen’s mother/caregiver as Caregiver 2 as that
would mean needing to assess that person on all the FAF items. When making this
decision, it is important to consider who and/or what family unit a program is primarily
targeting for change. On whom will the service plan be focused?
c) How would you include a teen father when he is not living with the teen mother?
Does it make a difference if he is involved with the baby or not involved with the
baby?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by supervisors, agencies or a collaborative.
Generally, if the teen father is involved with the child and is part of the service plan, he
would be included in the FAF even if he does not live with the teen mother. If he is not
involved with the mother and child and not part of the service plan, he would not be
included in the FAF assessment.
d) How do you determine who is Caregiver 1 and 2 in gay and lesbian families?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by supervisors, agencies or a collaborative.
In these cases, the worker and supervisor may need to determine if there is a primary
caregiver in the couple and if so that person would be entered as Caregiver 1 and the
other person as Caregiver 2. If both members of the couple serve equally as caregivers,
then it does not really matter how the names are entered. However, remember that
Caregiver 1’s ratings will be aggregated with other Caregiver 1s in the program and
likewise Caregiver 2’s ratings will be aggregated with other Caregiver 2s in the program
for reporting purposes.
e) How do I rate a single father family? Is he Caregiver 1? Is he the primary
caregiver?
A single father raising children would be considered the primary caregiver and listed as
Caregiver 1.
f) Who do I enter as the primary caregiver when the family consists of a biological
father with a live-in girlfriend who is not the biological or adoptive parent of his
children?
This is a programmatic decision to be made by supervisors, agencies or a collaborative.
This is one of any number of family constellations that may be presented. In some
cases, programs need to make case by case decisions about who is Caregiver 1 and 2
that make sense for that particular family. In this case, it depends on who provides
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primary care for the children and who the family defines as the primary caregiver among
other possibilities.
6) Section F: Interaction between Caregiver Questions
a) What do you do with Section F: Caregiver Interactions, when there is only one
caregiver?
Section F is ONLY completed for families when there are two caregivers who live in the
home, or two caregivers that have significant impact on the family even if they live apart,
and who will be part of the service plan and services. If a single parent family, check the
“Section Not Applicable” box for this factor.
b) How do you complete Section F: Caregiver Interactions when you are not
working directly with the second caregiver even though he/she lives in the home?
This might happen when the second caregiver works multiple jobs and is never
available.
While every effort should be made to include the second caregiver, it is understood that
this is not always possible. Workers cannot complete Caregiver 2 ratings unless they
have significant contact with that caregiver and intend to include him or her as part of
the service plan goals and activities. In these cases, Caregiver 2 would not be entered
into the FAF program in the Intake section, Caregivers tab and would not be rated on
any of the family functioning factors (A-F). Section F would be marked as Section Not
Applicable. Workers could enter the second caregiver in the Intake section, Others in
the Home tab.
7) Multiple Children Questions
a) How do you handle a situation in which there is a blended family and some of the
children only visit on weekends or for other periods of time but do not live
permanently with the family receiving services?
Workers cannot accurately assess family members with whom they do not have access.
In the situation described, the worker would not include the children who visit as part of
their FAF ratings or in the Behavioral Concerns/Observation Checklist. Workers may
want to make notes about these children in the Case Log section, in the comments box
or in the Intake section, either Others in the Home tab, or Other Info tab, in the
comments box.
b) How do you rate the caregiver/child interaction items in a family where there are
multiple children and the caregivers relate differently to different children? For
example, if one child is reported to behave very well and another child is reported
to be “the problem?”
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When deciding on how to rate FAF items workers should rate according to the situation
that presents the greatest concern. For example, if a caregiver is strongly bonded with
one child and provides good nurturance to that child but neglects another child in the
family, the worker would rate FAF items related to bonding and nurturing according to
the area of concern about the neglected child. The reason for this is so as not to
overlook an area of concern that may need to be addressed and to capture change in
these areas due to service intervention. The worker should also note in the
strengths/concerns text box the strength the caregiver demonstrates in relating to the
other child.
c) How do you rate items asking about children (e.g., cooperation/follows rules,
communication with caregiver, bonding to caregiver) when different children in
the family behave differently?
Similar to the above question, rate these items according to the area of greatest
concern for the same reasons as listed above.
8) Families with Unstable Housing Questions
a) How do you rate a family’s living a condition if the family does not have a
permanent home e.g., lives in a shelter, with friends/family, in a motel?
Workers should rate the items in Factor A: Living Conditions based on whatever the
living conditions are for the family at the time of initial assessment. Remember to use
both the operational definitions AND the overall meaning of ratings in determining the
most appropriate rating in these situations. In these cases it is particularly important to
make notes in the strengths/concerns text boxes to fully explain the situation.
b) How do you rate a family’s living conditions if the family moves during the initial
3-4 week assessment period?
Workers should base their assessment ratings on all the information learned during the
first 3-4 visits. At the end of this initial assessment period the worker should make sure
that the ratings are appropriate for the most current situation. This means the worker
may need to make some rating changes based on the family situation.
c) What happens if the family moves between the assessment rating and the
termination rating?
Workers complete the FAF assessment items based on the family’s current situation. In
situations like this, the living conditions could have improved or worsened and these
changes need to be reflected in the FAF ratings. In these cases it is particularly
important to make notes in the strengths/concerns text boxes to fully explain the
situation.
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9) Clinical Practice Questions
a) How long should it take to complete the FAF?
An experienced FAF user should be able to complete the entire FAF including the
service plan in about an hour. Practically, this means that following each of the initial
assessment period contacts with the family the worker spends about 15 minutes rating
items and making comments in the strengths/concerns text boxes. At the end of the
assessment period the worker needs to review all ratings to make sure they are
accurate and correct for the moment and to document the service plan that they have
already discussed with the family.
There is a learning curve for new FAF users. Practice makes perfect and assuming the
workers have enough families for whom they get to practice using the FAF, they should
develop proficiency by 3 months.
b) What guidance can be given to home visitors to assist them in obtaining all the
FAF information in the allotted assessment period? Can the FAF be used as a
questionnaire?
Developing rapport with families and good interviewing skills is clearly beyond the scope
of the FAF. The FAF is simply a different way to document a comprehensive psychosocial assessment of families. The FAF was NOT designed as a formal or structured
questionnaire rather as a framework to think about and document assessment
information. Workers need to exercise good practice in engaging families and “starting
where the client is.” The following are a few suggestions gleaned from practice that may
assist workers and supervisors. They are not listed in an particular order.
i) As part of orienting new staff to your program and the FAF, Supervisors may
review the FAF factors and their general focus e.g. Living Conditions refers to
cleanliness, orderliness and safety of the home. The Supervisor may then tell
the staff that during supervision, he or she will be asking the worker about
their observations of the home/family in detail based on the FAF items. The
Supervisor may coach the worker to prepare for the visit e.g. “when you arrive
at the client’s home, look around and make a mental note of what you see in
terms of cleanliness, orderliness, and safety. Is there a fenced yard? Are
there bodies of water like pools or ponds? Are they fenced? Are there tripping
or other dangerous objects around? When you enter the home, what do you
see? What is in reach of small children? Are their obvious repairs that need to
be made? How clean is the home? Are their roaches?” Then during
supervision, you use the FAF as a outline to help the worker describe what
they saw and solicit details.
ii) Supervisors need to support workers in realizing that they already know a lot
of the information that is asked about in the FAF. Workers need to be helped
to see that they know a lot from their observations and not all items in the
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FAF need to be discussed with families. If supervisors get the worker talking
about the family, they can then help translate what the worker is saying into
the various FAF items.
iii) It is helpful for the workers to learn the overall contents of the FAF so that
they have it as an outline in their head when they approach a new family. This
outline or framework can then be used to guide their thinking about the family
and to some degree structure their interviews. To help with this, there is the
FAF Outline form that includes all the factors and their corresponding items.
This form is located on the Forms menu and can be printed by clicking on
FAF Outline. This form may be taken into the home as a reminder of the
areas to be covered. The FAF Complete/Incomplete Checklist, also on the
Forms menu, can be used for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th visits as a reminder of what
areas remain to be rated. Supervisors may want to run the
Complete/Incomplete Checklist for families on a worker’s caseload prior to
supervision as a way to follow-up with workers to make sure all the items
have been rated in a timely manner and to identify areas in which staff may
need additional support or training.
iv) It is helpful for programs to develop an “opening script” that explains the
program and gives the family an idea of what will be happening. For example,
a worker might say as part of this “script” that “We will need to spend some
time getting to know each other. I may be asking a lot of questions that will
help me understand you and your family better, what your strengths and
resources are and what concerns or worries you have. Once I have a better
understanding about your family, I will be better able to know how I may be
helpful.”
v) Some workers may worry that they are being judgmental about families by
assigning a certain rating or that they are giving them a “bad grade.”
Supervisors can discuss the difference between being judgmental and
making judgments. Other points to address are: (1) that having an accurate
“picture” of a family at the beginning of services allows the worker to be
most effective in designing a meaningful service plan and helping the family
make improvements. The metaphor of taking a picture of a family at a
point in time seems to help workers feel more objective. (2) in order to
see change from beginning to end of services, the workers must be willing to
recognize and document the concerns at the beginning of service, (3) it is a
demonstration of respect towards families that we be honest with them about
both their strengths and areas needing improvement. If workers are not able
to state those concerns honestly with families, families are not being given the
opportunity to make changes.
vi) Some workers may obsess over whether or not they are giving the “right”
rating. Workers need to be supported in trusting their observations and
instincts. They need to be helped to see that there is not a “right” and a
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“wrong” rating rather one based on what they know at a point in time about a
family.
vii) It is very helpful for Supervisors to work through FAFs on 2-3 new families
with new staff or any staff learning to use FAF. The Supervisor can ask staff
questions that help the worker reflect on their home visits so that they may
complete FAF item ratings.
c) Some families are reluctant to share personal information. The FAF seems to be
invasive at a time when a family may not have established trust with the home
visitor. How do you handle a situation in which the family doesn’t want to share
information?
The ability of workers to engage families and conduct sensitive interviews is beyond the
scope of the FAF. It is common that families will reveal more about their personal story
as time goes on and these changes will be reflected in the termination rating.
Supervisors need to explore with workers which areas of the FAF they have difficulty
learning about from families; what are those personal and invasive issues? Most of the
sensitive issues in the FAF are in the Caregiver History section and because one’s
history does not change, this is not an outcome measure. At the same time, practice
experience shows that it is more often workers who are uncomfortable and unwilling to
discuss sensitive issues and not families. When asked sensitively, directly, and skillfully
about a history of child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and etc. many families
are willing to share. It is important for workers to be clear on why they are asking certain
sensitive questions and to be able to explain their reasons for doing so. Workers must
also be prepared to take appropriate action should serious problems be identified. And,
of course, if families do not want to talk about certain subjects, they are not to be forced
but by raising the subject the worker is sending the message that it is OK to address
these issues.
d) What can supervisors do to help workers address sensitive issues with families
such as history of child abuse, history of sexual abuse, substance abuse,
domestic violence?
These are areas about which agencies or a collaborative need to provide further staff
training and supervisors need to be skilled at addressing during individual and group
supervision.
e) When determining ratings, what ranks higher, the family’s input or a DCFS
worker’s input?
Neither. All information learned during the course of the assessment period needs to be
considered in selecting FAF item ratings. Ultimately, the FAF assessment reflects the
home visitor’s professional and clinical judgments about a family’s functioning at a
particular point in time.
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f) Should home visitors bring the FAF paper version or a laptop with them into the
home for home visits?
While this is a programmatic and in some cases an individual worker decision, the FAF
was not designed to be brought into the home with the worker. Either on paper or in
software format, it includes a lot of text and numbers that could be confusing or
discomforting to families. Remember, the FAF is the worker’s documentation of their
assessment just as they would write notes in a clinical file.
The FAF software has two forms located on the Forms menu that may be used by
workers in the home to help remind them of the factors and items being assessed. The
FAF Outline form shows all the factors and their corresponding items that may serve as
a “cheat sheet” particularly as workers are learning to use the FAF. It is important that
staff make notes on the FAF Outline or directly in the FAF program following each home
visit so their memories are fresh. It is NOT a good idea to wait to complete the FAF until
all assessment home visits have been completed or to wait too long between a home
visit and working on FAF ratings and notes.
The FAF Complete/Incomplete Checklist is the same form but it indicates which items
have already been rated and which remain to be done. This form is useful for planning
the focus of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th visits during the initial assessment period. Both these forms
may be printed by simply clicking on them and then clicking print.
g) How do home visitors use all the information that is gathered on the FAF?
Workers use the FAF information in several ways: 1) the process of gathering FAF
information helps give workers a comprehensive understanding of a family’s strengths
and areas of concern, 2) having this understanding may contribute to greater empathy
for the family, 3) items rated as strengths give the worker areas to compliment families
and identify skills to build on in addressing areas of concern, 4) items rated as concerns
need to be considered as part of service planning, 5) assessment information informs
workers on how to work with families and which strategies may or may not work e.g.,
cannot give reading material to a caregiver that is illiterate, or cannot expect a
depressed mother to play with her children until her depression is treated, 6) at
termination workers may review changes in family functioning by looking at reports that
compare change between beginning and end of services. Improvements may be shared
and celebrated with families.
Supervisors are critical in helping workers synthesize all the FAF data into a meaningful
picture of the family, develop meaningful individualized service plans, and in sorting out
effective intervention strategies specific to the uniqueness of different families.
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h) How do I discuss the FAF assessment information with families as part of the
service planning process?
Once the worker has completed the FAF initial ratings, he or she needs to review the
overall findings. This can be done in the service plan section in which there are lists of
all the items rated as strengths and all the items rated as concerns. Workers can also
run and print family functioning factor reports that show graphically the strengths and
concerns ratings. In preparing to talk to the family about the service plan, the worker
can make a list of several key strengths. The worker can feed these back to the family
to help build their confidence and to help the family see how their strengths can be used
to address their areas of concern. Workers can also select from the list of FAF items
with concerns those they know the family has mentioned as areas they want to work on
as well as others that the worker may feel are particularly important e.g., items dealing
with child safety. In this way, the worker does not need to address ALL the items in the
FAF with the family, rather he or she can summarize strengths and concerns that they
have been addressing with the family over the course of the past several weeks.
i) There may be information learned about a family during an assessment that is
not included in the FAF items. Where do I document this additional information?
There are text boxes for comments in the Case Log section, Case Log tab at the bottom
of the page, and in the Intake Section, Other Info tab in the middle and bottom of the
page. The strengths/concerns text boxes associated with each FAF item may also be
used for more expansive notes. Each item in the Behavioral Concerns/Observation
Checklist section also includes a text box.
10) Family/Case Situational Change Questions
a) What happens when home visitors change during services with a particular
family? How does this impact the FAF ratings?
Whichever worker is working with the family at time of initial assessment and at
termination needs to complete the FAF. Theoretically, it will not matter who the worker
is because the FAF as a tool has strong inter-rater reliability. This means that if workers
follow the instructions, use the operational definitions and overall meaning of ratings as
guides to selecting their ratings, 80% of the time they will select the same rating or one
within a half point.
b) What do you do if at the beginning of services there were two caregivers but
during the course of services one of them leaves the home/family? And the
opposite, what if there is one caregiver in the beginning and two at termination?
It is possible to rate two caregivers at the initial assessment and only one of them at the
termination assessment. Therefore, at the beginning of services you enter both
caregivers in the Intake section and complete their ratings in the Functioning Factors
section. In these cases, when you run family functioning reports looking at termination
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ratings for this individual family, you will see that the second caregiver’s data is missing.
When looking at change between initial and termination ratings reports, you will also
see that there is missing data for the second caregiver at termination. While this second
caregiver’s data will not be included in the termination averages for aggregate case log
reports, the first caregiver’s data will be included.
It is also possible to enter one caregiver for the initial assessment and then add a
caregiver for the termination assessment. To do this, you must go to the Intake section,
click Add button and enter the second caregiver’s information. When you click Save,
you will get a dialog box asking you if you want this caregiver to be associated with all
assessment events. For reporting purposes, it is very important that you click NO. Once
you have entered this second caregiver for the termination assessment event only, you
can proceed with the family functioning ratings.
In these cases, when you run family functioning reports for this individual family you will
see the missing initial assessment data for the second caregiver. Obviously, the second
caregiver’s data will not appear in reports looking at change between two assessment
events because you only have data for this caregiver for one assessment event. You
will see the change for the first caregiver. Similarly in aggregate family functioning
reports, this family’s data will be included in all reports for the first caregiver. The
second caregiver’s data will not be included in any reports that look at change between
initial and termination assessments since there is no data for the initial assessment.
11) FAF Rating Changes from Initial to Termination Questions
a) What happens if a FAF item gets worse during the course of services?
Assuming the program is only completing the FAF at the beginning and end of services,
changes, either positive or negative, that workers observe during the intervention period
would not be reflected in FAF ratings until the termination rating. Worker’s progress
notes would reflect these changes during service intervention and would serve as
important information when the worker is completing the termination rating. It is
important to note that some areas of family functioning may get worse during the course
of services and then improve again by the end of services.
b) What happens if a FAF rating gets worse from initial to termination rating?
This can happen for any number of reasons that may or may not be under the control of
the program or an individual worker. FAF change data whether positive or negative is
information to be used to better understand needs of families being served, strengths
and weaknesses in the program design, areas of training need among workers, and to
help inform future program enhancements.
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12) Re-Opening Cases Questions
a) How do I re-open a case for a family that had previously been opened and closed
in the FAF software program?
In order to have the ability to re-open cases, someone with administrative rights to the
FAF software must add some options to the Assessment Type table. Go to the Options
menu, select Database Maintenance, click on Tables tab. On the left use the down
arrow to scroll down to the Assessment Type table. On the right, click Add. In the blank
field that appears type in Re-Open and assign the next list number. Click Save. Click
Add again, and type in Termination2 and a list number. Click Save. Close this window
and return to Case Log section of FAF. Now when you look at the list of Assessment
Types that appears as part of the Assessment Tab you will see these new options.
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