Post dated: 16.03.2022

WillisPalmer does not offer ParentAssess Training in house after the date shown above. To book onto a ParentAssess course click here.

Should you really want to up your game following Social Work Week, how about training in the ParentAssess model to assess parents with additional needs?

Recently, we are increasingly getting requests for Independent Social Workers to carry out assessments using the Parent Assess model, and many of our experts have undertaken the training.

Independent Social Worker Pamela Smith, who attended the ParentAssess training, said: “It is child and family focused and there are a lot of tools available to help parents with a learning disability understand what you are talking about. The accompanying IT system is easy for parents to comprehend, it is family friendly and easy to use for social workers and other professionals. Plus it gets straight to the point of the assessment.”

ParentAssess is a comprehensive assessment framework for parents who have learning disabilities or additional needs.

ParentAssess is named in the Department of Health Good Practice guidance on working with parents with a learning disability (July 2021) as a recommended framework for assessing the impact of a parent’s learning disability on their parenting capacity.

The framework is also recognised by the Courts and Legal Aid Agency as an alternative model of assessment to other frameworks such as PAMS.

ParentAssess was founded by Sarah Lowe who has over 40 years of experience in the social work field and specifically with people who have learning disabilities.

“One of the things I’ve always made a priority in my practice is listening to the people I am working with about how the social work process feels. Many of the parents with learning disabilities told me how fearful they were of the assessment process, others felt like they were being treated like a child and some just did not understand the assessment process. I knew things had to change to make things work for these parents,” said Sarah.

Throughout the assessment the parent and the assessor use a traffic light system. This helps the parent express their views and also helps the assessor show the parent how they are doing. The aim from the outset is that the parent understands what they need to focus on. The outcome is also explained using red, amber and green.

• Red suggests significant concerns
• Amber means some concerns monitoring needed
• Green reflects no concerns

“The first thing is simplicity,” said Sarah. “Make things simple and clear, easy to understand – this makes the work we do accessible. It’s vital the parent understands the process.”

There is optional software which supports the work of the assessor by making the completion of the assessment easier. Its main function is to generate the tables once the information is entered.  This makes understanding progress and the outcome much easier for the parent. The software is designed to be simple and easy to use although ParentAssess can be used as a framework without the software.

The software is available in Windows and Mac versions.

What Professionals say?

Independent Social Worker Pamela Smith, who attended the ParentAssess training, said: “The ParentsAssess training was really good. It was engaging, it was at the right pitch for everyone involved even though we all came with varying experience in assessing parents with learning disabilities, there was the opportunity to talk and iron things out and the timing was just right.”

“ParentAssess incorporates photographs of people doing tasks which is far more appropriate.”

“It is absolutely a more appropriate model for assessing parents with a learning disability. I think it has the potential to become as popular as PAMS has been. It is a good model and I hope the people who produced it continue to keep it updated and relevant” concluded Pamela.

What Parents Say:

“I liked the traffic lights ....it made me think about what I was doing.”

“The traffic lights made me realise how me and the social worker see things differently and what the problems are.”

“You made me see how it is for my child. I was doing things wrong but I never knew it.”