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Good social work practice is at the core of ensuring best outcomes for children and their families, yet performance measures have led to criticisms that social workers' skills and competences are being eroded.

At Cheshire Council, the social services department is looking to develop and use workers' professional skills for the benefit of children and families - and this has guided its plan for the introduction of two new Department of Health assessment tools. The Home Inventory, released by the DoH in 2002 is designed to help social workers assess children's day-to-day experiences, the quality of their home environment, parents or carers from a perspective as close as possible to that of children. The Family Assessment: Assessment of Family Competence, Strengths and Difficulties (2001) is an evidence-based approach to assessing families. It describes their strengths, difficulties and competences, as well as identifying risks.

To give staff a thorough grounding in the use of these assessments, Cheshire brought in accredited trainers from the child and family training services and then followed this with in-house training. During this training, professionals' initial reaction to the tools, particularly the Home Inventory, was that they were very "middle class".

Practitioners who used the tools, however, have not found this to be the case. Initial responses by those who used the Home Inventory tool were that it worked well when used in initial assessments, and could be a valuable element in fuller assessments.

In one case a referral gave a picture of a very disorganised and chaotic home where the children's needs were not being met. But workers who used the Home Inventory during a visit were able to demonstrate that this was not the case, and could evidence this from information drawn from the assessment.

Other workers have found the assessments have given them information that they otherwise may not have easily gathered, such as other people involved in the care of children.

Social workers have been somewhat reluctant to embark on a full family assessment as this seems a daunting prospect. As a result we have taken the approach that sections of this tool can be used as part of assessments -Êa "pick and mix" approach, following a well worked out assessment plan.

Another positive finding was that service users engaged well with the assessment when these tools have been used.

In developing the use of the tools there were some key messages:

• They were not "another set of forms to fill in" but useful tools for practice. The practitioner should judge whether they are appropriate in any particular case.
• The tools are flexible enough to be used in a range of situations, from child protection to assessing carers.
• The language and principles of these tools are not new to practitioners. Social workers need only to develop familiarity with them in order to use them confidently in practice.

Despite a generally positive initial reaction to both assessment tools, professionals are likely to need to be encouraged to incorporate them into everyday practice. For this reason, we provided a range of support in the workplace, including a workshop presentation to launch them in Cheshire, and workshops for team managers to help them in understanding, promoting, and supervising staff using the tools. We continued to offer further briefings and support in the workplace, and made up user packs to make the material readily available for staff.

The Home Inventory and the Family Assessment manuals have proved to be user-friendly and highly adaptable. However, while providing the tools for practitioners is important, assessment models alone do not tell us what the needs of children and families are and how they can be met. That is done through professional judgement, analysis and decision-making based upon the information gathered. The two assessment tools help with this process. 

Bill Joyce is project officer, Cheshire Council's children's services. Further information about these assessment tools and training can be obtained from Liza Bingley Miller, e-mail liza@ntworld.com