Sources for Screening and Assessment Tools, Instruments, and Measures

Websites and compendia listing tools, instruments and measures of assessment.

• Children/youth
• Parents
• Family
• Trauma

Children/youth

Assessing Children's Well-Being: A Handbook of Measures
Naar-King, Ellis, & Frey (2004)
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Describes a wide variety of instruments used to measure dimensions of child well-being, including information about the source, availability, purpose, standardization, reliability and validity, and publications about the measure.

Early Childhood Measures Profiles
Child Trends (2004)
A compendium of early childhood assessments commonly used to measure language and literacy, cognition, mathematics, social-emotional competency, and approaches to learning. (PDF - 3560 KB)

Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2005, 2nd ed.)
A set of 170 tools to assess violence-related beliefs, behaviors, and influences in children and youth. (PDF - 6010 KB)

Screenings and Assessments Used in the Juvenile Justice System: Evaluating Risks and Needs of Youth in the Juvenile Justice System (PDF - 394 KB)
Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children and the Courts (2011)
Reviews screening and assessment instruments and summarizes issues related to instrument validation, selection, and administration.

What to Expect and When to Seek Help: Bright Futures Developmental Tools for Families and Providers
National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health (2006)
Presents four tools to assist parents and providers in understanding the different stages of child development, social and emotional milestones, and ways to identify child strengths and childrearing abilities. Information is provided on what to expect at different ages, along with checklists for indications that parents should seek help.

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Parents

Assessing Parenting
Family Development Resources, Inc.
Provides information on a custom web application that assesses the parenting and child-rearing attitudes of adult and adolescent parent and non-parent populations.

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Family

Assessment of Family Violence: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners
Feindler, Rathus, & Silver (2003)
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A compendium of available measures and assessment strategies in the field of family violence, including relevant issues of concern to several subfields and an overview of different assessment approaches.

Casey Foster Family Assessments
Casey Family Programs
Helps workers assess foster parent applicants' strengths and development needs using online assessments that address multiple areas of foster parenting, such as the ability to support foster child development, care for challenging children, negotiate worker and agency challenges, available time to foster, cultural receptivity in fostering, receptivity to birth family connections, and more.

Family Assessment in Child Welfare Services: Instrument Comparisons (PDF - 251 KB)
Johnson, Stone, Lou, Vu, & Ling (2006)
Describes the concept of family assessment in the child welfare context and discusses 21 promising assessment instruments.

Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families - Pack
Department of Health, Department for Education and Employment, & Home Office, United Kingdom (2000)
A series of publications, materials and training resources about the assessment of children in need and their families. Includes assessment framework, practice guidance, questionnaires and scales, and assessment recording forms.

Tools for Activity: Explore Strengths, Needs, Culture, and Vision
National Wraparound Initiative (2006)
Describes assessment tools that can be used when a facilitator meets with a child and family to determine their strengths and needs and help identify natural and formal supports.

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Trauma

Child Trauma Assessment
Child Trauma Institute
Child trauma assessment measures and other resources for professionals and researchers.

Sidran Institute
Publishes several measures of trauma/dissociation and books on the subject.

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