Child maltreatment Not Applicable
Conditions
Interventions
Experimental: The Safeguarding Children Assessment and Analysis Framework (SAAF) is a structured approach to decision-making. It builds on the statutory guidance provided to CSDs on how to conduct ass
Sponsors
Queen's University Belfast (UK)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Children?s Services Departments (CSDs) willing: 1. To make teams available to be randomised to each arm in the trial 2. To make staff available for training, and to require all staff, irrespective of study arm, to comply with the research team?s data requirements
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1. CSDs where there are concerns about performance (e.g. special measures, other Department for Education involvement) 2. Where a major organisational restructuring is planned or under way 3. Where other risk assessment aids are being used, irrespective of whether they are being evaluated e.g. Graded Care Profile, Signs of Safety
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Child maltreatment Measures: using administrative data collected by CSDs: 1. Number of children who become subject to a Child Protection Plan (CPP) for a second or subsequent time (or for the first time following an assessment that did not result in a CPP), as a result of concerns linked to the original assessment 2. Number of reassessments or re-referrals as a result of concerns linked to the original maltreatment/perceived risk of maltreatment | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Quality of assessments undertaken using SAAF Measure: 1. Specially designed quality assessment schedule, based on factors known to be associated with quality assessments, and including those aspects of assessments targeted by SAAF, namely, assessing the profile of harm / risk of future harm to the child; the severity of parenting difficulties and of family and environment factors, and prospects for successful intervention to prevent the child being (re)abused; the identification of appropriate interventions (logically linked to the risk assessment) and means of monitoring progress 2. Information gathered from social workers on their approach to assessment, information collected and their confidence in the assessment and, where relevant, the proposed child protection plan Relationship between SAAF assessments judgements, overall assessments and child protection plans Measure: 1. The extent to which the structured approach (55 judgements) are linked to the three summative assessments of harm, risk and prospects for intervention; to recorded variations in child protection plans, and to the primary outcome. 2. The extent to which the three summary judgements are linked with subsequent maltreatment or its absence Implementation Evaluation: An implementation evaluation is incorporated into this trial, which will examine the impact on implementation and outcome of such factors as the perceived relevance and accessibility of SAAF; resources required for, and barriers to, its successful implementation. Data will be collected via online surveys of social workers and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders e.g. social workers, managers, independent review officers. | — |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed