North Carolina Family Assessment Scale

The North Carolina Family Assessment Scale (NCFAS) measures family functioning from the perspective of the worker most involved with the family.[1] It requires professional to make a clear decision on whether action should be taken. It does this by getting professionals to grade a family from -3 to +2 across a range of areas of family functioning, where the definition for a minus score means that there is an ethical, moral or legal reason for intervening.[2]

History

The original NCFAS was developed in 1998 by Dr Ray Kirk at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.[1]

Types

There are several variants of the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale.

NCFAS

NCFAS stands for the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale. It is intended for use in Differential Response settings. It has been developed for high-risk family service cases.[3]

NCFAS-G

NCFAS-G stands for the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale for General Services. It is intended as a broad-based family assessment tool that can be used with all agency programs.[3]

NCFAS-R

NCFAS-R stands for the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale for Reunification. It is intended as tool for helping to determine the risk of out-of-home placement or successful reunification for a family in the context of family strengths and problems.[4]

NCFAS-G+R

NCFAS-G+R stands for the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale for General Services and Reunification. The combined scale is intended for use by agencies that provide a wide variety of services for both intact and reunifying families.[5]

Applications

Direct Service Use

NCFAS and its variants have been used in direct service use with families.

It is used in the United Kingdom to help social workers make assessments of families where there is concern that neglect might be occurring or where neglect is occurring.[6]

Evaluation

It is used as an evaluation tool.

NCFAS-G has recently been used to provide a broader assessment of outcomes from the practitioner perspective, in the delivery of the SafeCare programme to families where there is a risk of significant harm from neglect.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 National Family Preservation Network (2015) Overview of Assessment Tools.
  2. ↑ National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) (2009) Frequently asked questions about using the NCFAS-G. North Carolina, US: National Family Preservation Network.
  3. 1 2 Kirk, R. (2006) Development and Field Testing of the NCFAS for General Services (NCFAS-G).
  4. ↑ NFPN (2015) NCFAS for Reunification (NCFAS-R).
  5. ↑ NFPN (2015) NCFAS for General Services and Reunification (NCFAS-G+R).
  6. ↑ Williams, M. (2015) Evidence based decisions in child neglect: An evaluation of an exploratory approach to assessment using the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale, London, NSPCC. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/research-reports/evidence-based-decisions-evaluation-report.pdf
  7. ↑ Churchill, G. (2015) Safecare: Evidence from a Home Based Parenting Programme for Neglect, London, NSPCC.
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