The Common Assessment Framework

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is the  process approved by the North Lincolnshire Children’s Trust to help professionals(public and voluntary sector ) in contact with children and families to assess their needs and then plan to deliver services to meet those needs in an integrated and co-ordinated way. It is an integral part of the Single Organisational Model for the children’s workforce in North Lincolnshire (see page 33 of the North Lincolnshire Children and Young People’s Plan 2011-13 for more detail)

All professionals in contact with children and their families – and this includes those who have contact with adults where children are present – have the opportunity to see where there are developing problems within families at an early stage.
There is a developing network of Early Identifiers in agencies which will help with the task of identifying those children in need of additional help.

The Pre-Common Assessment checklist, the first stage of the CAF framework, is a very brief assessment that helps help the professional working with the child /child’s home to decide whether a fuller Common Assessment is needed or not.
After the Pre-CAF assessment, professionals can decide that the issues they are seeing can be resolved within the resources of their own organisation, and can draw up a single agency plan for the child.

Where that is not the case, and the needs identifed by completing the pre CAF indicate  that other services  need to be involved, the second part of the CAF framework - a Common Assessment -  should be considered, to make a broad assessment of the needs of the child to make sure of a comprehensive response.

Following the completion of  Common Assessment, professionals will decide, with their Accountable Manager, whether the assessed needs can be met by their agency – in which case there should be drawn up a single agency plan for the child – or they need a coordinated response from a number of different agencies. If this is the case, the third stage of the CAF framework - a Child With Additional Needs (CWAN) meeting - can be called, and a multi-agency plan for the child (usually known as a CWAN plan) can be developed, with the full inclusion and cooperation of the family and, where appropriate, the child.

Delivery of the CWAN plan is led by a Lead Professional, who will coordinate the actions of a Team Around the Child (TAC) to carry out the actions in the CWAN Plan. The CWAN Plan will be regularly reviewed, to make sure that the child and family are seeing the improvements they need.

The Common Assessment Framework is the key tool to help those involved in preventive and targeted services to work together to improve the well-being of children in their families.

“Safe Children, Supported Families, Transformed Lives”