Putting children and young people first in the family courts

Resources for assessing other forms of harmful parenting

Our Family Court Advisers need to consider all the factors which play a part in harmful parenting, such as mental health and substance abuse. This ensures a focus on the wider harm that may occur, and not only of that raised specifically in the application to court.

  • Tools and guidance
    Click here for the Other forms of harmful parenting guide

     

    Resource
    Guidance for use
    Source
    SCODA – risk assessment with parental drug misuse Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. SCODA
    Tool for drug abuse Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. Cafcass – adapted from Fowler, 2003
    Alcohol use tool Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. adapted from Department of Health (DoH 2000)
    Tool for parenting knowledge and style Private law: To be used to explore parents’ understanding of their child’s needs according to age and stage of development. Cafcass – adapted from Fowler, 2003
    Child exploitation screening tool Private/public law: This tool can be applied to all children (male and female) under the age of 18 and its purpose is to enable practitioners to assess a child’s level of risk of CSE and/or CCE in a concise and consistent manner. Cafcass
    Adult wellbeing scale Private law: To be used in an interview to establish an evidence base for analysis. DoH 2000
    Parenting daily hassles scale Private/public law: An assessment tool which can be used with the parents/carers to consider their view of the children’s needs and how they are coping with these needs. DoH 2000
    Mental health thinking tool Private/public law: This is a tool to help organise FCAs thinking and critically review evidence in cases where parents have mental health difficulties. It is not designed to be a prescriptive or definitive measure of risk and should be used in the context of the overall structured professional judgement, in conjunction with the broader evidence in the case. Dr Sheena Webb, Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust for Cafcass, 2017.
    Child impact timeline tool The impact timeline works like a chronology, highlighting significant events, but with a focus on the impact of those events on the child/ren. The tool supports practitioners in identifying trends and patterns and supports them to understand the impact on children and in their analysis to the court. Cafcass

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