Article: Assessments Article Body Assessments are the way in which Children's Social Care works with families to identify any problems or needs and agree how to work together to tackle them. Social workers would normally become involved in assessments with families where the problems or needs are more complex and families need more support than can be provided by universal services, such as schools, health visitors or youth workers using the Common Assessment Framework,or where there are identified child protection concerns. There are two kinds of assessments used by Children's Social Care - initial assessments and core assessments. To assess means to gather information regarding a child's circumstances and draw conclusions as to what the needs of the child or the risks to them might be. Initial assessments Brief and basic assessments of the current situation within a family with the aim of identifying any support which should be provided and agreeing how this should be done. The assessment should be completed within 10 working days and should involve all relevant family members. Once they are old enough, children should be able to make their own contribution to the assessment and any members of the extended family, such as grandparents or aunts and uncles, who have a significant input should also be seen. The social worker should also contact any other services which are already involved with the family, such as schools or health visitors. Initial assessments are voluntary and cannot be undertaken without the consent of the family unless there are concerns about the safety of a child. At the end of an initial assessment it should either be clear that there is no further ongoing support needed from social workers or a plan should be identified for joint working which should be reviewed frequently until the service is no longer required. A copy of the assessment should be made available to families and to any other services already involved in the 'team around the child' if one exists. If families have shared confidential details which they do not want to be shared with other agencies, this should be agreed with the social worker. However, if the assessment suggests that children may be at risk of harm it may not be possible to keep details confidential. Where children are believed to be at risk of significant harm, initial assessments can lead to a child protection investigation. Core assessments Longer and more in depth than initial assessments. Core assessments usually follow on from initial assessments in the most complex of situations. A core assessment should be completed within 35 working days. It will usually involve several interviews with family members and more extensive contact with the other services involved. A core assessment usually identifies more complex needs and should lead to a more detailed plan of action which may involve input from a number of different agencies. As with initial assessments, core assessments are voluntary unless there are concerns about the safety of a child. A copy of the assessment should be made available to families and to any other services involved in the 'team around the child'. If families have shared confidential details which they do not want to be shared with other agencies, this should be agreed with the social worker. However, if the assessment suggests that a child may be at risk of harm it may not be possible to keep details confidential. A core assessment must be undertaken whenever a child protection investigation takes place.