Child Development and Attachment Theory

In this essay I will critically consider how genial workers tummy use their understanding of Child Development and accessory possibility in the assessment of tykeren and families. To do this I will stolon debate the aims of assessment in order to talk about how Development and Attachment theory can be utilise by social workers to tack these aims as well as the limitations of these theories. In order to critically deal the use of Developmental and Attachment Theory in assessment it is first important to understand what assessment is, and what its aims are.The assessment of children and families is nothing new however until the late 1970s it was something that was generally perceived to be a labor of when children were taken into care. In 1981 it was recommended that a boarder approach should be used for children who required support but it was not until 1988 that the government produced practice focal point on assessment (Horwath, 2010). The Children Act 1989 gave local au thorities the duty of on the job(p) with and supporting carers and families of children in need defined under Part threesome section 17 of the Act.The focus was not just on protect children from harm, but also promoting their welfare. In 1997 the Labour Government came into power and in 1998 announced the development of a national assessment cloth as part of the Governments aim to modernise services and improve outcomes for children (Horwath, 2010). In 2000 The framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families was published and emphasised the impressiveness of a systematic and comprehensive assessment of children and their families (Bingley-Miller and Bentovim, 2003).Its is important to note that the framework is not meant to be a checklist but rather a framework that can be used to suit individual circumstances (Gray 2002), the framework is not just for social workers but has been constructed to assist practitioners in all disciplines consider about what is happening to a child and the family. The Framework emphasises the importance of childrens development and promoting and safeguarding their welfare by preventing developmental impairment (Rose, 2010).The purpose of the framework is to see both the inner and outer worlds of children and to help the practitioner research these worlds with the child, families and others involved and come to an agreement about what is happening and what support is needed. The framework has been modelled as a triangle and represents three domains to show the key aspects of the childs inner and outer world, as shown below the triangle shows the importance of the childs development needs, parenting capacity and family and environmental factors.