Comprehensive family assessment as a
prerequisite of individualized planning,
monitoring and evaluation of family-visitation
program in Croatia
Professor Marina Ajduković, Ph.D, psychologist
Professor Antonia Žižak, Ph.D, special educator
University of Zagreb
and
UNICEF Croatia
Background
Deinstitutionalization of public care for children is
among the most important priorities in Croatia in the
area of social care for children.
Among the total of 3.148 children in alternative care
due to insufficient parental care 54,5% are placed in
foster families and 46,5% live in children homes.
Goal: 80% of children in alternative care placed in
foster families.
Paths of deinstitutionalization of the
out-of-home care for children
Efficient early
interventions
 Deinstitutionalization  Good quality fostering in
families

Work with parents while child is in out-of-home care
Early interventions in families
The Family Law provides two measures for the protection of
the rights and well-being of the child:
(1) Warning the parents about shortcomings in their care for
and upbringing of a child and helping them to remedy the
shortcomings through counseling and parent training
(2) Monitoring and supervision of parental care through
home visitation in cases when shortcomings in care for the
child are multiple and frequent or when the parents need
particular care in the upbringing of the child. The centre for
social work determine the monitoring/supervision program
for the child and the parents, and appoints the person who
will carry out this program (“family supervisor”).
Monitoring/supervision of parental care
through home visitation
Overview
Number of cases of monitoring/supervision of parental
care in the period of last five years was between 2.344 and
2.261.
Family supervisors (N=81) reported that greatest obstacles
in implementation of monitoring/supervision program
were:
 lack of cooperation by parents and their poor motivation for
change (23)
 resistance to the measure (21)
 lack of insight into own problems and behaviors (13)
 breech of agreements (11).
Monitoring/supervision of parental care through
home visitation
Obstacles
• Standardized procedures and instruments are not used for
needs assessment
• Monitoring/supervision programs are typically too
general, not individualized nor developed based on the
good assessment; they are directed primarily to risks and
failures without review of parents' strengths
• Programs are made without participation and cooperation
of the parents
The change is/was needed
Project cooperating institutions
• Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
• Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law
• UNICEF Croatia – project implementing agency
Framework of project values
• Every child has the right that his/her family gets high
quality, focused, multidimensional and timely assistance, in
order to avoid placement in alternative care.
• If the child has to be placed in alternative care for her/his
best interests, to provide adequate assistance for
strengthening parental capacities and to provide adequate
circumstances for return of the child into the family.
Project goals
• Develop criteria for assessing and monitoring competencies
and potential for change of parents whose children are at risk
to be taken out of the family and for parents whose children
are already placed in alternative care.
• Advance the concept (contents) and implementation
(methods) of monitoring/supervision of parental care.
• Expand the range of early interventions for families under
risk for placing children into alternative care, such as day care
for children, group work with parents, one-time workshops
with parents, modeling of parental behaviors, etc.
Project dimensions
• Action project – direct work with families and children
under risk for placement in public care and families where
the children have already been taken out of families.
• Developmental project – development of a model of more
effective work in the area of early and/or targeted
interventions with families with children at risk.
• Community project – working towards development of a
local community as a context for social interventions with
families at risk, including development of a local team of
professionals
Project implementation
The project was carried out in four centres for social work
during 12 months through:
• First three-day educational seminar followed by:
 Practical assignments related to the content of the training
 Two supervision sessions
• Second two-day educational seminar followed by:
 Practical assignments related to the content of the training
 Three supervision sessions
• Third two-day educational seminar followed by:
 Practical assignments related to the content of the training
 Three supervision sessions
• One-day consultation with the project team
• External evaluation
New professional concepts
• Concept of early interventions for family at risk for
child/children separation
• Comprehensive family assessment
• Family empowerment and collaborative approach
Expected outcomes
• Guidelines for comprehensive family assessment, including
child risk assessment
• Development of a set of assessment tools
• Guidelines for planning and carrying out family-visitation
program based on:
• Comprehensive family assessment
• Development of individualized program of change
• Criteria for monitoring and evaluation

Skilled professionals providing better quality services for
families in need
Comprehensive family assessment (1)
Comprehensive family assessment (CFA) is the process of
identifying, gathering, and assessing the importance of
information to understand the significant factors affecting the
child's safety, permanency planning, and well-being, the
parental protective capacities, and family availability to assure
the safety and well-being of their children.
The purpose of CFA is to develop a service plan or a strategy
for intervention that addresses the major factors affecting a
child's well-being, safety, and permanency over time.
Comprehensive family assessment (2)
• Begins with the first contact with a family and continues until
the "case" is closed
• Must be completed in partnership with families, children and
youth and in collaboration with other community partners; the
staff must be trained to engage family in that work
• Must identify individual and family strengths and protective
factors
• Is a process and has to be updated whenever major changes in
family circumstances occur and at the points of key decisionmaking on a case.
Areas of assessment - Parents
• Background and history of the parents or caregivers including
history of abuse and neglect
• Problems in accessing basic necessities such as employment,
housing, income, child care …
• Ability to recognize problems and accept responsibility,
motivation for change
• Patterns of social interactions, including the characteristics of
social support networks
• Parenting practices (understanding of child development
and/or emotional needs of children, methods of disciplining and
supervising children)
• Behaviors/conditions associated with domestic violence,
mental illness, physical health, disabilities, alcohol and drug
abuse.
Areas of assessment – Children
Information relevant for assessment of child safety and wellbeing.
Depending on specific context information can be related to:
• Health
• Intellectual and cognitive functioning
• Academic achievements
• Emotional and social functioning
• Attachment patterns
• Vulnerability/ability to communicate and protect themselves
• Developmental needs.
List of assessment tools
• 16 assessment tools identified as a part of CFA guidelines
• Three of them are locally developed and other were translated
international instruments
• The assessment tools cover broader spectrum - from
assessment for family stress, parental stress, risk for child
abuse, family strengths, level of meeting child's needs,
attachment patterns family embeddedness in community, etc.
Important!!!
When using instruments the risk of "social technology" should
be avoided.
Internal evaluation (1)
• The project had positive effects on increase of professional
competency of participants, their understanding of family in
crisis improved, and they started to involve parents as
collaborative partners more often.
Most important changes in their practice:
• Use of comprehensive family assessment
• Collaborative work with parents as active participants in all
phases: from needs assessment to evaluation of each activity
• Development of plans according jointly defined priorities
• Use of concrete short term action plans
Internal evaluation (2)
• 95,2 % of the trainees were very satisfied with having
participated in the project and suggest dissemination of the
project outcomes to the whole professional community.