How do you keep the whole family in mind when carrying out social work assessment? How do you balance the needs of adults and children? How do you ensure that children's welfare and safety are everyone's priority when families face complex difficulties?Mastering Whole Family Assessment in Social Work brings together what social workers in adult and children services need to know about assessment across both services. With tools and frameworks that make sense of the interface between adult life difficulties, family problems, parenting capacity and children's needs, this practical guide will help social workers to think across professional and administrative divides. Case studies, practice vignettes, exercises and suggestions for further reading are included throughout the book to help the reader consider the well-being of the whole family when conducting and interpreting assessments.This guide will help social workers to think holistically and work collaboratively both with each other and with families.

List of Figures and Tables. Foreword by Jane Wonnacott. Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction: Assessment at the interface. 2. Respectful engagement. 3. Crossing Bridges. 4. Exploring parenthood. 5. Understanding children's experiences. 6. Making sense of family relationships. Postscript. References. Subject Index. Author index.