Comprehensive Family Assessment Model
in Child Welfare
In the fall of 2007, Ramsey County Community Human Services (RCCHSD) was one of five sites chosen as recipients of a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau (USDHHS) to develop a model of comprehensive family assessment to be used in child welfare.
In the short video below, Cathy Overbagh, Federal Project Officer, at the Children's Bureau discusses the origin and intent of the USDHHS comprehensive family assessment model:
As one of five sites chosen for the demonstration project, RCCHSD has been examining its current child protection family assessment processes to incorporate, test, and adapt the Comprehensive Family Assessment (CFA) Guidelines. Workers are learning to address the entire family network in a dynamic, ongoing, strengths-based process that considers family dynamics and environmental/social context including specific cultural, ethnic and linguistic concerns.
From the beginning of the project, the School of Social Work at University of Minnesota has been the third party, independent evaluator. Originally, the evaluation was developed and conducted by Susan J. Wells, then Gamble-Skogmo Chair in Child Welfare and Youth Policy at the School of Social Work. Since 2009, the evaluation has been conducted under the auspices of the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW).
This website was made possible, in part, by the Using Comprehensive Family Assessments to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes grant from the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, HHS (#90CA1753/01). Materials do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Children's Bureau, ACYF, ACF or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
