Community Assessments

All Community-Based Assessments are designed to ensure the level of disruption to the child is minimised.

Community Based Assessments

Community Based Assessments are undertaken in the family home, for a period of about twelve weeks. All Community Based Assessments are designed to ensure the level of disruption to the child is minimised. Community Based Programmes can be conducted with the child/ren at home or if the children are in alternative care.

Programme of assessment work

The positive and negative aspects of returning the child to the care of the parent/s would be considered. The exact programme of assessment work will be tailored to the individual needs and requirements of each family. Our staff group are qualified and experienced social work practitioners in child Protection work and are wholly dedicated to offering intensive assessments sometimes in complex situations.

Intervention

These assessment programmes require four of five days a week of interventions with mother and father and would involve observations of their care of the child/ren within agreed contact arrangements.

Assessments for Older Children

We would also examine what support could be provided to the parents from professionals, the community and their family/friends and assess if it is appropriate, sustainable and likely to benefit the children or otherwise. The assessment would also entail the detailed interviewing of other family members and friends of the family, if appropriate.

The Community Assessment can include more than is listed above as this is not an exhaustive list but rather a demonstration of types of assessment protocols that would be necessary to produce a comprehensive report to help determine the way forward.

We would commence such an assessment immediately on receipt of a Letter of Instruction and ideally following a professional meeting. We would file the Report one week after the end of the six-week assessment period.

AIM3 Assessments and Interventions

Norden Hills Family Centre provides a range of tailored Sexual Harmful Behaviour assessments to children and young people up to the age of 18. The assessments are delivered under the direction of our Service Manager and Responsible Individual, with support from our consultant psychologist and suitably trained staff at Norden Hils. Our Service Manager highly experienced years’ practice of working with vulnerable children, young people, and families, delivering high-quality care in a variety of settings.

AIM3 Assessment Model

The AIM3 Assessment (2019) is a research/evidence-based method of assessment and is designed to provide practitioners with a structured framework to assist in analysing the HSB in the overall context of the young person. It is designed to be used with young people aged 12-18 years who have committed, or there is strong professional evidence or belief that they have committed harmful sexual behaviours.

Harmful sexual behaviours

Harmful sexual behaviours include sexual activity that does not involve mutual consent by the individuals involved or where their relationship includes an imbalance of power, i.e. age, intellectual ability, race or physical strength and where behaviour has the potential to cause physical and/or emotional harm (G-Map, 2012).

5 Domains

The model is based on 5 domains: Sexual Behaviours, Non-Sexual Behaviours, Development; Family and Environment and Self-Regulation thus the model links with the Assessment Framework for Children in Need and Their Families (Department of Health, 2000) and ASSET (Youth Justice Board 2000) tool used within the Youth Justice forum (AIM2, 2012). AIM3 provides an analysis of the young person across all of the domains in their life and the role of the HSB in these domains. The detailed analysis of each domain will help determine concerns and strengths that are present and what implications these have for immediate risk management; the safety plan and interventions with the young person and the people that care for them.

Extensive Knowledge of Young People

It is only through an extensive knowledge of a young person that we can begin to understand not only the reasons for their problem behaviours and consequently what needs to change, but also what might motivate change. The AIM3 Assessment Model (2019) that is offered provides a framework for organising and conducting such assessments and analysing the wide-ranging information that is gathered so that relevant, realistic and targeted individual goals can be established. (G-Map, 2012).

AIM Initial Assessment and Intervention – Under 12 years

The AIM Assessment and Intervention model of assessment has been developed to assess and address the problematic and harmful sexual behaviours of children under the age of 12 years.

Talk To Us

If you would like to speak to us for further details on Norden Hills Family Centre or to refer a family for assessment, please complete our contact us form. A member of our team will respond to you within 48 hours.