ABSTRACT
In any risk of harm assessment both ‘strengths’ and ‘needs’ need to be carefully considered to help ensure accuracy (O’Neil, 2005; Cousins, 2005). It is in the child’s best interest to see what the family does have rather than taking only ‘deficit’ eyes and seeing what they do not, and a strengths-based approach to practice helps promote resilience and personal agency (Maiter and Stalker, 2011):
Strengths – nil identified. [VIE_case file]
Protective factors unknown. [VIE_case file]
Ethnic minority families will have two types of strengths that should always be considered – those related to cultural factors and those that occur for all groups. This way, a thorough and holistic approach to assessment can be assured.
