What are the Four Stages of a MA DCF Family Assessment?

The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (MA DCF) will conduct a family assessment to evaluate a family’s needs and connect them to services. MA DCF determines a family’s needs based on:

• How well the family is able to care for the children in the home
• How well the child thrives in the home environment with the family

To ensure all of a family’s needs are addressed, MA DCF divides the assessment into four general stages:

1. Family Profile and Functioning
2. Parental Capacities Evaluation
3. Child Safety, Permanency and Well-being
4. Clinical Formulation

What Happens during “Family Profile and Functioning” Section of the Assessment?

In the “Family Profile and Functioning” stage of the family assessment, the social worker assigned to your case will try to understand how the family has been functioning. Your social worker will look into your family’s personal history and your family’s history with MA DCF. The social worker will also examine the family’s previous involvement with child welfare agencies in other states.

The purpose of this stage is for the social worker to understand how the family has protected the reported child’s safety, health and well-being. 

 

What Happens during “Parental Capacities Evaluation” Section of the Assessment?

During the “Parental Capacities Evaluation”, the social worker assigned to your assessment will evaluate all the parents and caretakers of the children. The social worker will assess how well each parent or caretaker can care for and protect the child in question. The social worker will evaluate whether the parent or caregiver has the following:

1. Access to and use of support in times of need or emergency
2. Resilience
3. Knowledge of parenting and child development
4. Ability to build a child’s social and emotional competence (nurturing and attachment)
5. Social connections

 

What Happens during the “Child Safety, Permanency, and Well-being” Section of the Assessment?

In the “Child Safety, Permanency, and Well-being” part of the assessment, your social worker evaluates the children in the family. The social worker will create a profile for the child which will reflect the child’s role in the family in addition to their distinctive needs and abilities.

Your social worker will determine the child’s permanency plan in this stage. The social worker will also assess the child’s social and emotional functioning, health, development, safety, and cognitive and academic functioning. 

What Happens During “Clinical Formulation”?

In the “Clinical Formulation” phase of the assessment, your MA DCF social worker will determine priorities in the Action Plan. Priorities would be the services most conducive to the safety and well-being for the child in question.

During this phase, MA DCF decides whether it is necessary for them to continue to be involved with your family. When a family has demonstrated that they are able to support and care for the children in the home, MA DCF should close the case and stop being involved.

MA DCF does not give up easily. The Department will be relentless in their involvement with a family in the name of acting in the best interests of the child. Make sure you are aware of your rights when involved with MA DCF. You should not be subjected to an extremely long and invasive assessment when you do not need to be.

 

 

 Kevin Seaver is a trusted MA DCF Attorney Specializing in DCF Law since 1991.