![]() Hence, this increased children's responsiveness and active engagement in the helping process. Their findings indicated that professionals who aimed to establish intimate and trusting engagements with children through active listening, play, touch and close observation obtained authentic entries into the children's world. Ferguson (2017) and Husby, Slettebo and Juul (2018) investigated children's participation in child protection from the perspectives of professionals and children themselves. Consequently, the effectiveness of an intervention becomes unfit for a child who was not consulted nor involved during assessment. Similarly, in the health-care setting children were viewed as incapable of clearly communicating their health-related issues and needs this perception of children has been used to justify the lack of children's involvement in matters affecting them (Mutambo, Shumba & Hlongwana, 2019). As a result, child assessments have been adult-led to the extent where a child's view and concerns regarding matters that affect them have been negated or not given sufficient consideration. When children were discussed, it was often in relation to their parents or guardians, not as independent individual beings with their own personalities and stories to tell. Studies that investigated professionals' decision to place adults at the forefront of matters affecting children found that children were often regarded as minor characters, while parents were sought to give accounts on behalf of children (Munro, 2001 Holland, 2001). Timely and appropriate assessment initiates the starting point for ascertaining whether the child is in need of care and protection (Children's Act 38 of 2005, section 155), and the application of suitable intervention afterwards (Spies, Delport, & le Roux, 2017).Īdults have predominantly been the main narrators or voices of children in child assessments. Early identification of psycho-social challenges through assessment is a critical starting point for social work. In South Africa the high prevalence of adverse childhood experiences and abuse places a child's emotional wellbeing at risk. Key words: child assessment tool (CAT), child-centred, child friendly, communication, participation, social workersĪssessment in social work plays a vital role in intervention planning. Using the CAT addresses barriers to child participation during child assessment. The results indicated that using the CAT created a child-friendly environment that facilitated effective child communication and participation during assessments. ![]() Data collection included individual semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled fourth-level student social workers. While the study adopted a mixed-method approach, this paper reports the findings drawn from the study's qualitative findings. ![]() This paper presents social work students' perceptions of using a child assessment tool (CAT). However, the use of child-friendly tools in generalist child counselling remains sparse. integration of child-friendly tools during child counselling facilitates effective communication and child participation. of Social Work, University of KwaZulu-Natal. IPostgraduate student, Department of Social Work, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. The use and value of a child assessment tool (CAT) in social work child assessments
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