Evaluating situations in child welfare: From tools to workgroups

• Published in: Children and youth services review Vol. 35; no. 7; pp. 1152 - 1157
• Main Authors: Boutanquoi, Michel, Bournel-Bosson, Maryse, Minary, Jean-Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Action Research; Assessment; Child welfare; Child Welfare Services; Collective Action; Collective elaboration; Collectives; Humanities and Social Sciences; Organization; Psychology; Security; Team; Teamwork; Child welfare; Team; Collective elaboration; Organization; Assessment
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.06.025

The assessment in child welfare raises a number of questions. Number of work in this area focuses on the issue of tools. This paper presents an approach based on collective development process, the working team. Four situations have been studied extensively in the context of action research. The analysis focused on the collective working time (meetings) and helps to highlight the influence of organizational framework, the importance of sense of security and ways of proceeding that may limit the quality of evaluations. Improving the quality of assessments cannot rely solely on tools: it also depends on the quality of teamwork. ► We wanted to focus our attention on the collective assessment work. ► We examined sequence analysis of work with professionals. ► We conclude that evaluation work is dependent on the organizational contexts. ► The processes are complex, based on experiential knowledge quickly mobilized. ► To feel in security within the team appears to be essential.