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Assessing Parenting Skills and Competencies

Resources for screening and assessing parenting skills and competencies.

Assessing Parenting Capacity in a Child Welfare Context
Budd
Children and Youth Services Review, 27(4), 2005
View Abstract
Describes components of mental health evaluations of parents in a child welfare context.

Assessing Parents: Parenting Skills and Parental Relationships
Holland (2004)
In Child and Family Assessment in Social Work Practice
View Abstract
Explores how social workers use assessment to gauge adequacy in parenting, as well as parental relationships and domestic violence.

Assessing the Parental Capacity to Respond to the Developmental Needs of the Child
Jones, Cleaver, Cotson, Friend, Hollins, James, Erooga, & Print (2001)
In The Child's World: Assessing Children in Need
View Abstract
Describes the different dimensions of parenting that should be assessed in families.

The Assessment of Parenting in Child Protection Cases
Barber & Delfabbro
Research on Social Work Practice, 10(2), 2000
View Abstract
Reports on the development of a procedure for the standardized assessment of parenting within child protection agencies in Australia.

Assessment of Parenting: Psychiatric and Psychological Contributions
Reder & Lucey (Eds.) (1995)
View Abstract
Examines the professional, social, and ethical contexts for parenting assessments and proposes a structure to guide mental health practitioners in conducting such assessments for the court.
Also View Abstract for the companion book, Studies in the Assessment of Parenting.

The Family Activities Inventory: A Tool for Assessing Family Strengths
Harper & Parry (1999)
In Twelfth National Roundtable on Child Protective Services Risk Assessment: Summary of Proceedings, San Francisco, CA, July 8-10, 1998
View Abstract
The Family Activities Inventory (FAI) is a strengths-based inventory of parenting skills, beliefs, and practices designed for use in home visitation and other family support programs that provide services to parents of children birth through age 3.

Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale (KIPS)
Comfort Consults, LLC
This website provides information for family support workers and other related professionals on the use of the KIPS parenting scale, which assesses caregiver behaviors, tracks progress, and evaluates intervention outcomes.

Manual for the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory (DDI)
Straus & Fauchier (2007)
Provides the manual for a brief instrument measuring discipline techniques of parents.

Parenting Capacity
Donald & Jureidini
Child Abuse Review, 13(1), 2004
View Abstract
Description of an approach to the assessment of parenting and parents' ability to empathically understand and give priority to their child's needs.

The Parents Under Pressure Program
Australian Institute of Family Studies
Child Abuse Prevention Newsletter, 12(1), 2004
Provides an overview of the Parents Under Pressure program, theoretical influences on its development, and preliminary evidence of efficacy and effectiveness. (PDF - 110 KB)

The Protective Capacity Assessment: Addressing Threats to Child Safety Within the Case Plan
Action for Child Protection (2005)
This structured interactive assessment process is intended to build partnerships with caregivers to help identify and seek agreement regarding child safety and develop case plans that will effectively address caregiver protective capacities and child needs.

	Related Information Gateway Topics Preventing child abuse & neglect: Parent education Preventing child abuse & neglect: Parent support groups Preventing child abuse & neglect: Knowledge of parenting and of child and youth development

Updated on March 1, 2010