Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) Family Assessment

1. Purpose: Family Assessment is a required part of the assessment process. With the agreement of the participating family members, the Family Assessment provides family information that is essential to the assessment process for an eligible child and the development of the IFSP (e.g., family strengths, interests, routines and concerns). This also guides the process of developing meaningful, functional outcomes, and the identification of the supports and services necessary to enhance the family’s capacity to meet the needs of their infant or toddler.

2. Process: Family Assessment is a family-directed process conducted by qualified personnel to identify the family’s resources, priorities, concerns, and the supports and services necessary to enhance the family’s capacity to meet the developmental needs of the family’s infant or toddler with a disability or developmental delay. The family-directed assessment must be voluntary on the part of each family member participating in the assessment, be based on information obtained through an assessment tool, and through an interview with those family members who elect to participate in the assessment. It needs to include the family’s description of its resources, priorities, and concerns related to enhancing the child’s development.

3. EI Data System: This information is entered via the IFSP Home Visual Force page under the Family Assessment tab.

Tool Used: Mark the box for the approved family assessment tool used during the facilitation of family assessment. Choose one of the following:

• Routines-Based Interview (RBI)

• Scale for Assessment of Family Enjoyment within Routines (SAFER)

• Family-Guided Approaches to Collaborative Early Intervention Training and Services (FACETS)

  • The FACETS tool consists of two companion documents. The first, Getting to Know Your Child, may be completed along with the family or completed by the family prior to the assessment and reviewed at the time of the Family Assessment. The second is Identifying Family Activities and Routines, which contains the guiding conversation starters for the interview portion of the assessment.

• Family chose not to participate in Family Assessment

  • Mark this box if the Family Assessment process was explained to the family and family members declined to participate.

Document the date that the Family Assessment was conducted.

Initial Concerns of Your Family: Document the initial concerns of the family. These may have been gathered during intake, or at the beginning of the Family Assessment.

Routine/Time of Day: Describe the routine or time of day in the order that the family discusses them, such as “Waking up”, “Bath time”, “Going to the Store”, etc.

• Remember: if you are using the RBI or SAFER, you must enter a satisfaction rating for each time of day listed.

What Does This Look Like?

• Record information as the family shares the typical times and experiences (routines) of their day during a conversational interview.

• Follow the protocol of the approved family assessment tool.

• Document the information shared by the family within the related routine or time of day.