Version 3.0

1. Designed by Dr Sue McGaw, Psychologist in Cornwall, first published 2010;

2. Based on her many years of experience working with vulnerable families;

3. Suitable for assessing vulnerable families,not just those where one parent has alearning disability;

4. This is the third version, and the first to be a computer software programme;

5. It interfaces well with the Framework for Assessment.

1. The Assessment is divided into 31Domains…10 in the Child Profile, 21 inthe Parent Profile;

2. Within the 31 Domains, there isprovision for up to 312 individualskills to be examined;

3. Each skill is assessed in terms of:

Parenting KnowledgeParenting SkillFrequency of Practice

So What are the Domains?

Child Profile: Feeding; Healthcare General; Healthcare Hygiene; Healthcare Warmth; Parental Responsiveness; Visual Stimulation; Motor Stimulation; Language Stimulation; Guidance and Control; Responsibility and Independence.

Parent Profile: Household Routines; Time Telling; Telephone Skills; Travel Skills; Budgeting; Shopping; Cooking; Washing; Hygiene; Safety; Abuse; Parent Healthcare (mental); Parent Healthcare (Physical); Relationships and Support; Environment and Community.

How do we start the assessment?

1. The Key worker is asked to complete a form (The InitialScreening Tool);

2. This asks the key worker to rate the parent’s capacity across the Domains as follows;

Skill met=0;Low level of Need=1;Moderate level of need=2;High level of Need=3.

The parent is then asked to complete the I Need Help Form

1. This is similar to the Initial Screening Tool.

2. The Parent is asked to rate their own parentingcompetency across the Domains as follows:

Need No Help=0Need Some Help=1Need Lots of Help=2Not Coping=3

3. This form enables the parent and the assessor to begin a dialogue about parenting issues;

4. It also enables a measurement of how far the parent shares the concerns of the Key Worker.

How do we measure Parental Knowledge?

31 Knowledge Cartoons;Each corresponding to one of the 31 Parenting Domains within PAMS;

The Parent is told what is happening in the cartoon;

The software then generates two questions for the parent. A trained PAMS practitioner is then able to evaluate the parent’s answers as either Good, Adequate or Poor. The PAMS programme then calculates whether the two answers overall have been Good, Adequate or Poor.

Results are recorded on the parent’s individual Worksheet.

How do we measure the quality of each parenting skill?

1. Completion of the Parent Booklet;

2. Observation.

How do we measure frequency/quality of practice?

1. Historical information is important;

2. A comprehensive social work Chronology is of great value;

3. Need to take into account any training the parenthas undertaken and how successful that has been;

4. Observation!The most comprehensive PAMS assessments are donewhen the family is still intact.

5. Discussion with professionals involved with the familyand others, such as foster carers.

The Parent Questionnaire

Gathers personal information about the parent:

Life History;Early life experiences;Childhood;Family life;Education;Employment;Relationships;Children;Hopes and fears for the future.

The Worksheet

This is completed after all investigations have been carried out.

As many skills as possible are evaluated as Good, Adequateor Poor in terms of Knowledge, Skills and Frequency of Practice.

If any of these are Poor, then the assessor has to decide the Priority of the Need:

Priority Level One- low risk of harm to the child;Priority Level Two- medium risk of harm to the child;Priority Level Three- high risk of harm and possibly life-

threatening if immediate teaching is not provided.

The Report

The report outline is generated automatically by the software Programme;

Incorporates the information gathered using all of the PAMS tools;

Statistics are generated automatically;

The programme evaluates the data and automatically flags up those Domains of Parenting that are Priority Levels Two or Three;

The rest of the report is completed by the assessor, and recommendations for training are provided by the assessor.

Criticisms

1. Middle class;

2. Too prescriptive;

3. Some of the questions are outdated and not really validany more;

4. Too reliant upon one assessor (although quality assurancetrials have indicated that the overall outcome will be similar no matter who the assessor is);

Solution?

PAMS 4.0! Available next week!