The Common Assessment Framework
The Children Act 2004 places a duty on those working with children and young people to work together more effectively to improve outcomes for children. To assist with this some standardised ways of working have been developed nationally and must be adopted locally by all organisations.
The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a key part of delivering frontline services that are integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people. The CAF is a standardised approach to conducting an assessment of a child's additional needs and deciding how those needs should be met. It can be used by practitioners across children's services in England.
Following a trial period and extensive training and development, the Common Assessment Framework is currently being implemented in Bolton. From January 2007, all services have been using the CAF process to gather and share information and as a referral process to access additional services for children and young people. This has identified a need to streamline assessment and referral processes. Other issues have also been identified as problematic, such as version control and difficulties of sharing information electronically. As a paper-based process that is not fully embedded, CAF is time-consuming and has increased workloads for practitioners.
Implementation of an e-enabled process will resolve many issues and promote the establishment of the use of CAF. Practitioners from different sectors will need to generate, store, access and share CAF forms for each child with whom they are working and the e-enablement of CAF (eCAF) is an important step in providing these facilities.
It is crucial to the success of proper establishment of the CAF process that an electronic solution is developed and implemented. The approach to be taken should identify the needs of practitioners in using the CAF process and the e-CAF business requirements reflect this. It is essential that any solution procured meets the needs of practitioners and the requirements outlined in this document, rather than adapt business processes to fit the solution.
Further information on ECM:CfC and the Common Assessment Framework is available on the ECM website – http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk
