20 Sep Be sure to use quotation marks for pseudonyms..

Being able to assess the needs of families and write an effective case plan is paramount for the successful reunification of children with their families. This assignment has two goals. First, it serves to introduce you to identifying realistic goals and tasks for clients and second, it will enable the writer to think about whether or not these goals will decrease the potential for future child abuse/neglect. You must select a family of your own choosing. It is necessary that you do this the first week of class. This family may or may not necessarily have CPS issues. Whether or not they have CPS issues is irrelevant. The major goal of the course is to introduce you to the steps of case planning. Most CPS professionals find that the majority of reported cases are unfounded. Therefore, most of CPS activities are spent assessing the needs of families without CPS issues. It is hoped that after learning the steps of case planning, you will learn how to apply the same concepts to families that need you to impose protective factors. You cannot and should not make-up information during this assignment. You should also not attempt to copy a case from the Internet. Any family that you choose for this project is appropriate, (1) as long as you have their permission to carry out the project with them (2) and the members of the family are not part of your immediate household. For the purposes of confidentiality and HIPAA regulations, please do not include your clients real names or demographic information as this may pose a violation of confidentiality regulations within your agency, state and federal laws. Be sure to use quotation marks for pseudonyms..

Provide your chosen family with five of the assessment instruments you have chosen from those you have collected or have been provided by your classmates, professor, or textbooks. Conduct the assessments, collect the information and process the information in your assessment instruments. You will use this information in your paper. This paper must be written in accordance with APA guidelines. It will be a minimum of twelve (12) pages, with references. This paper will have the following sections:
1. History of your family: Describe the ethnic background of your client(s), their community, case background (why were the children removed), ages of children and parents, how long have the children been out of their homes, etc. Ensure that this section provides a good picture of the family you are planning to assess. You may want to include placement information. Are the children in the least restrictive environment? What makes their placement suitable? Do/does the child(ren) have any disabilities? If so, what are they? Are they being treated? Include mental health diagnoses of children and parents. How would these diagnoses become barriers to providing services to families?
2. Describe your assessment instruments: Why have you selected the instruments you used to assess your families? Is there any research on the instruments you are using? If so, you may want to present what the research says on these instruments. Are there any standardized instruments that will yield the same results? What are the limitations of these instruments? In this section, ensure that you are familiar with each of the instruments and provide your reader with how these instruments are used and under which circumstances (if any). Are the instruments culturally biased?
3. Describe your results from your assessment instruments: What are the strengths and needs of your families and children? Were the instruments successful in determining the needs of your families? If they were or were not, explain why. What may you consider doing differently? Were the instruments able to help you determine insight on your families? Why or why not?
4. Describe your proposed tasks, based on the information gathered on the assessment instruments: Looking at research data (peer reviewed articles), what would you recommend to your family in terms of best practice? You may want to cite at least 1 article per strategy to support your recommendations. Can these strategies be carried out in 12 months or less? How would you assess compliance and insight after completion of the tasks? Provide target completion dates of services for each task provided. What agencies would you recommend to provide these services for your family? Are these agencies in the community of your client? At what times are these services being provided? Are the service agencies flexible enough to provide an opportunity for parents to go to work and would not interfere with their abilities to be or become self-sufficient as services are offered? Identify barriers for families to completing their case plan (i.e. adequate housing, employment, etc.). What suggestions do you have in overcoming these potential difficulties in your case plan? Be specific and you may want to cite articles to support your ideas.
5. Concurrent Case Planning: Discuss concurrent case planning with this family. What would you recommend in case of non-compliance or difficult clients? At what point in your case plan would you recommend termination of parental rights? What evidence would you need to prove clear and convincing evidence and manifest best interest for termination of parental rights? What would be alternative permanent placement for the children? Is there a family member that would be interested in adopting? How about the current caretaker? Discuss the pros and the cons of adoption with a relative and/or non-relative. You may want to cite a few articles regarding concurrent case planning. Be sure to include the strengths and needs of concurrent case planning.
6. Reflections and Conclusion: In this section you will describe what you learned from this experience. What are the strengths and needs you discovered regarding case planning and assessment procedures in your agency during this assignment? Would you recommend anything be done differently in the process you used during this assignment? Provide an explanation as to what you could change to help the families you are currently providing services to from a systemic approach? What are your thoughts regarding the Adoption and Safe Families Act in terms of assessment and case planning? Finally, how would you use the information you have learned to improve the service delivery of your agency to clients?

I have attached a sample paper of what the assignment should have and include. I also uploaded a template that you can use to type in for this assignment.