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5. eCAF – The Common Assessment Framework The eCAF is a central feature of the 'Every Child Matters' agenda. It is an in-depth, personal assessment tool that facilitates information-sharing by introducing a standardised set of assessment criteria for agencies. Originally eCAF was intended to be held on local authority databases, but just before the Summer 2007 recess the government announced by Written Ministerial Statement that eCAF will, like ContactPoint, be a national government database. The government estimates that around a third of children are in need of additional services at any given time, and half of all children will need services at some point. Where a practitioner thinks that a child is not ‘progressing’ towards the government’s ‘five outcomes’ - the performance indicators set down in ‘Every Child Matters’ - it is expected that an eCAF will be carried out and an indicator placed on ContactPoint that this has been done. The practitioner’s eCAF guide advises that assessments should be based on evidence, but several of the areas covered require the practitioner to form an opinion on issues such as the quality of children’s relationships and the capabilities of their parents. The full practitioner’s guide, can be
downloaded here (pdf). Appendix A provides an extensive list of the
information required for the assessment. |
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