Engagement, critical thinking, self-reflecting, cultural awareness, and interviewing are essential skills necessary for child welfare professionals to complete comprehensive family assessments. This course provides information on these topics. Family assessments are critical to the job of a child welfare worker. Conducting accurate assessments can impact children's safety, permanency, and well-being in the child welfare system. Therefore, they are critical to child welfare practice. According to the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) findings, the Children's Bureau identified a connection between comprehensive family assessments and good outcomes for children and families. In addition, positive ratings on comprehensive family assessments are associated with positive ratings on permanency and safety outcomes (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2014). Comprehensive Assessments are needed to help workers know what steps to take to keep children safe.

Learning Objuectives:
- Define the purpose of various assessments and how and when to use various tools
- Identify the strengths and needs or limitations of families
- Identify what types of information child welfare workers must gather when conducting an assessment
- Recognize and explain conditions or contributing factors that impact safety and increase risk