The document outlines the key components of a comprehensive assessment for case planning: (1) obtaining the child and family's past history, (2) understanding the child's current adjustments, (3) gathering information about the family history, (4) directly observing the child's behaviors, and (5) utilizing special procedures like psychological evaluations if needed. Direct observations and interviews with parents, teachers, and other professionals are important sources of information. The overall goal is to fully understand the child and family situation to inform future decisions and services.

1. CASE
PLANNING
SHIELA M. YOROBE
-Reporter-

3. The purpose of the
comprehensive
assessment is to help us
understand the child’s and
family’s situation more fully
in order to provide a sound
basis for decisions about
future actions.
(Protecting Children, 1988)

4. A complete assessments includes:
 Information on the past history
 Current adjustments
 Family history
 Direct observations
Special procedures

5. Interview With Written Materials
• Parents
• Relatives
• Foster parents
• Previous caseworkers
• Preschool personnel
• Day care personnel
• Teachers and other
school personnel
• Policemen who have
had contact with family
• babysitters
• Agencies case records
• Case records from
other agencies that
have had contact with
child and/or family
• Records from hospitals
where child has been
treated
• Well-baby clinic
records
• Public health nurse
records
• School records
Sources of
Information

6. 1. Information on the Past
History 
O The past history helps identify which of the
child’s basic needs were probably met and
which might have gone unmet at various
stages of his life.
O The past history may provide clues as to
possible misperceptions on the part of the
child.
O The past history should alert us to events
which usually precipitate strong feelings in a
child, feelings which may never have been
acknowledged or resolved.

7. OThe past history should provide clues as
to how this child has coped with stress in
the past.
OThe past history should include
information about the pregnancy, birth
and development of the child. Particular
attention should be paid to eliciting
information about the mothers history of
drug or alcohol use during the
pregnancy, as both of this factors
influence the child’s development.

8. 2. Current Adjustments 
O The child’s avenue for presenting his needs
and perceptions of the world is via his
current adjustment.
O An essential aspect of case planning is the
“decoding” of current behaviours, identifying
underlying needs and perceptions.
O The child's current adjustments helps
provide a focus for developing strategies for
specific interventions.

9. History of Present Functioning
Eating and table behaviours
Bedtime, sleeping and awakening patterns
Self-care skills
Play skills and peer relationships
Response to authority
Talents
Chores
Interactions with adults
Expression of feelings
School functioning
Medical problems
Affection
Conscience development
Basic temperament
Unusual behaviours

10. 3. Family History 
OWhen obtaining the family history, the
caseworker is looking for overall
patterns, expectations, strengths and
weaknesses. A variety of tools for
gathering and organizing the family
history have been developed. Two
that are particularly useful in child
welfare work are the Genogram and
the Eco Map (Hartman, 1979).

11. Genograms are often used in family therapy
to help identify destructive patterns of behaviour.
Genograms can be used in genetic research to
identify traits that are passed from one generation
to another.

12. An Eco map is a flow diagram that maps family and
community systems’ process over time. The eco map shows the
exchange of the social matter with energy that maintains and is
exchanged by the family in their living social “ecosystem”

13. 4. Direct Observations 
O Direct observations provide either
confirmation or denial of the suspected
perceptions and/or underlying needs.
O Direct observations of preschool children will
yield the most accurate information when
they are done in a setting which is familiar to
a child.
O When assessing the relationship between
birth parents and children who are in foster
care, a setting that is normal as possible
must be used.

14. Basic information to be gained by general
observations without any specific “testing” includes
the following:
O Does the child look and act his age?
O What is his general manner?
O Is he shy or friendly?
O Withdrawn or aggressive?
O Is he clumsy or graceful?
O Does he have to touch everything?
O Does he hesitate to explore anything?
O Does he look at the adult’s face as he talks or does he
avoid eye contact?
O Does he appear to be self-confident and assured or does
he seem tentative and uncertain?
O Does he constantly test limits?
O Is he impulsive and/or easily distractible or does he stay
focused on conversation or play?

15. 5. Special Procedures 
O It is the caseworkers responsibility to
coordinate all assessment information and to
formulate a treatment plan for the child and
family, frequently input from others with
special expertise is needed in order to do
this.
O A variety of special assessment procedures
might be utilized in helping to rule in or out
specific conditions which would influence
treatment, planning or prognosis.
O Special assessment is an educational
assessment which fully identifies the child’s
learning strengths and weaknesses.

16. Signs and Symptoms Requiring Full
Psychiatric Evaluation in Children
• Extreme withdrawal from interactions; behaving as
though others as not present
• Inappropriate affect i.e., laughing, crying, or rage for
no apparent reason
• Fantasies that are so marked that they interfere with
day-to-day functioning
• Total lack of interest in interacting with peers; no
normal peer interactions.
• Extreme lack of responsiveness to other people
• Lack of appropriate fears and/or abnormal fears that
interfere with day-to-day functioning.

17. • Auditory or visual hallucinations
• Failure to develop speech or disappearance of
speech after it has developed
• Non-communicative speech
• Persistent abnormal rhythm to speech
• Abnormalities in reactions to stimulation; may be
hypersensitive or hyposensitive to auditory stimuli,
tactile stimuli, and the like.
• Peculiar posturing or persistent walking on tiptoe
• Stereotypical finger and hand movements
• Self-mutilation
• Developmental delays combined with areas of
normal or above normal functioning
• Marked insistence on sameness, such as routines or
object placement