Dendy Platt with Katie Riches Centre for Family Policy and Child Welfare University of Bristol

1. Assessing Parental Capacity to
Change
Dendy Platt with Katie Riches
Centre for Family Policy and Child Welfare, University of Bristol
ESRC knowledge exchange opportunities scheme grant no.
ES/L001829/1, in partnership with Somerset, North Somerset and Bath &
NE Somerset Councils
© D Platt & K Riches, 2015.
BASPCAN Annual Congress, April 2015

2. That word ‘capacity’
Parenting Capacity
 A parent’s overall ability to
parent their child
 I.e. basic care, safety,
emotional warmth,
stimulation, guidance /
boundaries, and stability
(DoH, 2000)
Parental Capacity to
Change
 A combination of evidence
indicating whether future
change is achievable

3. Relevant practice (in
England)
 Assessment following a child protection conference
 Assessment following letter before proceedings (under
the PLO)
 Parenting assessment for family court
 Assessment / planning for reunification
 Interventions where understanding capacity to change
is important

4. Key principles
 Capacity to change assessed for particular behaviours.
 Integrated within existing processes of assessment and
analysis.
 Two essential sources of information,
 observable behaviour, and
 background factors affecting capacity to change.
 Capacity to achieve change within the child’s timescales.
 All relevant parents or carers assessed individually and
together.
 Good analysis is fundamental (Turney et al, 2012).

5. Exercise
 Work with a partner
 Think of something you have tried to change in your
own life, and describe it to your partner
 Identify what helped and what hindered in making that
change
 Write down each factor affecting that change on a
separate post-it
 Post-its will be displayed for discussion

6. Factors affecting capacity
to change
Main Sources:
Unified Theory of Behavior (Jaccard
et al, 2002; Olin et al, 2009);
Theoretical Domains Framework
(Cane et al, 2012);
Integrated Model of Parental
Engagement (Platt, 2012);
Self-Determination Theory (Deci
and Ryan)

7. (continued)

8. Balance Sheet of Factors
Affecting Capacity to Change
What is helping to achieve change? What is acting against change? Next steps e.g. What action can be taken to
promote change
What needs to change?
Why is this change necessary for <children’s names>
Date:

9. Assessing observable change
(Adapted from Harnett, 2007)
1. Use appropriate assessments/tools/measures to establish
baseline
2. Identify target difficulties
3. Agree goal(s) related to each target difficulty
 Negotiated with parents / children
 Meaningful (to both parties)
 Manageable
4. Intervention aimed at addressing target difficulties
5. Assess observable changes

10. Goal Attainment Scaling
Chart
(adapted from Harnett, 2007)
Description of situation at
start
Date ………………………………
Level of Outcome Score Description of levels Evidence of change at follow-
up
Date: …………….………
Much more successful
than expected
5
Somewhat more
successful than expected
4
Successful 3
Somewhat less successful
than expected
2
Much less successful than
expected
1
Goal:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………..........................................................
Importance for Children…………………………………………………............................
.......................................................................................................................
Date: ………………………………………………………………………………

11. Exercise
 Use case study, Rob and Penny
 Either
1. Consider factors affecting Rob and Penny’s
ability to cut down on alcohol use; or
2. Devise a Goal Attainment Scaling chart related
to alcohol use.

12. Weighing up the Two Parts of the
Capacity to Change Assessment
Evidence of actual
change
Factors affecting
capacity to change 
Insufficient More than sufficient
Good potential for
change
Potential not
demonstrated in reality.
Review barriers to
change. Review goals.
Overall assessment that
capacity to change is
good.
Change is unlikely
Overall assessment that
likelihood of change is
very low.
Actual change
unexpectedly high.
Review goals. Review
barriers and facilitators.

13.  Predicting the future is a troubled science: value of
multiple sources of information
 Assessment of actual change alone would not provide
explanation of what helps and hinders change
 Assessment of factors affecting behaviour change
alone would omit potential insights from past behaviour
 Assessment of both elements provides a stronger basis
for intervention to facilitate further change
Why the two-part assessment?

14. Linking to conclusions of the overall
assessment
 What are the risks to the child?
 What needs to change to safeguard the child?
 Can that change be achieved within the child’s timescale, and
by how much?
 Does capacity to change outweigh risk to child?

15. Single Assessment:
child’s needs,
parenting, risk, etc
Concerns
regarding child
Factors affecting
capacity to change
Target
difficulties
Interim
goals
Intervention
Observe
changes
Overall assessment:
• Can change be achieved
within the child’s timescale?
• Does capacity to change
outweigh risk to child?
= Capacity
to Change
Assessing Capacity to Change:
Process

16. References
Day A., Casey S., Ward T., Howells K. & Vess J. (2010), Transitions to
Better Lives: Offender readiness and rehabilitation. Devon: Willan
Publishing.
Deci E. & Ryan R. (2014), Self Determination Theory.
www.selfdeterminationtheory.org
Department of Health (2000), Framework for the Assessment of
Children in Need and their Families. London: The Stationery Office.
Cane J., O’Connor D. & Michie S. (2012), Validation of the theoretical
domains framework for use in behaviour change and
implementation research. Implementation Science, 7: 37.

17. Gardner B. (2014), A Review and Analysis of the Use of
‘Habit’ in Understanding, Predicting and Influencing
Health-Related Behaviour. Health Psychology Review,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2013.876238
Harnett P. (2007), A Procedure for Assessing Parents’
Capacity to Change in Child Protection Cases. Children
and Youth Services Review, 29, pp. 1179-1188.
Jaccard J., Dodge T. & Dittus P. (2002), Parent-Adolescent
Communication about Sex and Birth Control: A
conceptual framework. New Directions for Child and
Adolescent Development, 97, 9-41.

18. Olin S.S., Hoagwood K.E., Rodriguez J., Ramos B., Burton G.,
Penn M., Crowe M., Radigan M. & Jensen P.S. (2010), The
Application of Behavior Change Theory to Family-Based
Services: Improving parent empowerment in children’s
mental health. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19: 462-
470.
Platt D. (2012), Understanding Parental Engagement with
Child Welfare Services: An Integrated Model. Child and
Family Social Work. 17, 138-148.
Platt D. & Riches K. (2015), Assessment of Parental
Engagement and Capacity to Change: Practice Handbook
(Pilot Version). University of Bristol (nb under revision).

19. Turney D., Platt D., Selwyn J. & Farmer E. (2012), Improving
Child and Family Assessments: Turning Research into
Practice. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Ward H., Brown R. & Hyde-Dryden G. (2014), Assessing
Parental Capacity to Change when Children are on the
Edge of Care: an overview of current research evidence.
Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough
University, and Department for Education. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads
/attachment_data/file/330332/RR369_Assessing_parental_
capacity_to_change_Final.pdf