CWEL Family Assessment and Safety Planning 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When conducting a family assessment, a child welfare worker should interview the alleged child victim in which setting whenever possible?
- At the family's home with parents present
- Alone in a private, child-friendly setting without the alleged perpetrator present (Correct answer)
- At the child welfare office with a supervisor present
- In a group setting with siblings to reduce anxiety
Correct answer: Alone in a private, child-friendly setting without the alleged perpetrator present
Children should be interviewed privately, without alleged perpetrators or other potentially influencing parties present, to ensure the child can speak freely and safely.
Question 2: In assessing family strengths, which of the following represents a protective factor that reduces the risk of child maltreatment?
- Family isolation from community supports
- Parent has strong social support network and access to community resources (Correct answer)
- Parent experienced childhood abuse themselves
- Family has limited financial resources
Correct answer: Parent has strong social support network and access to community resources
A strong social support network is a significant protective factor because it provides parents with emotional support, practical help, and connection to resources that reduce stress and isolation.
Question 3: Which approach to family assessment emphasizes understanding the family's own definition of their problems and goals, building on their existing strengths?
- Deficit-based assessment
- Strengths-based assessment (Correct answer)
- Investigative assessment
- Clinical diagnostic assessment
Correct answer: Strengths-based assessment
Strengths-based assessment focuses on identifying and building upon existing family capacities, resources, and resilience rather than emphasizing deficits and pathology.
Question 4: When a non-offending parent is unable to protect their child from an abusive partner, what should the child welfare worker assess?
- Only the abusive parent's behavior and history
- The non-offending parent's own history of victimization, fear, and capacity to protect with support (Correct answer)
- The child's ability to protect themselves
- The community's resources for the abusive parent
Correct answer: The non-offending parent's own history of victimization, fear, and capacity to protect with support
Workers must assess the non-offending parent's own circumstances, including whether they are also a victim of domestic violence, their level of fear, and what support would enable them to protect the child.
Question 5: What is the purpose of a family team meeting (also called family group conference or team decision making) in child welfare?
- To allow the agency to present evidence of abuse to the family
- To bring together family members, supports, and professionals to collaboratively develop safety and case plans (Correct answer)
- To determine whether the worker's supervisor approves of the case plan
- To provide therapeutic services to the family in a group format
Correct answer: To bring together family members, supports, and professionals to collaboratively develop safety and case plans
Family team meetings engage the family's own network, formal supports, and professionals to collaboratively identify solutions, share information, and develop plans that have family buy-in.
Question 6: In a child welfare home visit, which observation is MOST concerning and should be documented as a safety concern?
- The home is cluttered and disorganized
- An infant is left unattended in an upstairs crib while the parent answers the door (Correct answer)
- The family has a large dog that barks at the worker
- The home smells of cigarette smoke
Correct answer: An infant is left unattended in an upstairs crib while the parent answers the door
An unattended infant left in a location where they cannot be monitored represents a direct safety concern related to supervision, which is a key indicator of neglect risk.
CWEL Family Assessment and Safety Planning 2
When conducting a family assessment, a child welfare worker should interview the alleged child victim in which setting whenever possible?