Assessing Parental Needs
Support is only useful when it matches what a parent actually needs. This page describes how settings can find out, respectfully and accurately, what parents want and where they would value help.
Why ask before acting
Settings often hold strong ideas about what families need. Those ideas may be right, but they may also reflect what staff find easiest to offer. A structured but gentle assessment of parental needs makes sure that the support on offer is shaped by the people it is meant to help, and it gives staff a fair basis for deciding priorities.
Areas worth exploring
An assessment does not need to cover everything at once. The areas below give a starting point. Each can be explored through conversation, a short written form or a visit, depending on what the family prefers.
Looking at the setting
Assessment works in both directions. Alongside asking families what they need, review how the setting currently communicates and where it could make things easier. The images below show the kinds of spaces and moments where these conversations can take place.
Asking well
Some parents will speak openly in a conversation, while others will prefer to reflect in writing or to answer questions through a trusted intermediary. Offer more than one route and let the family choose.
Questions such as what would make it easier to be involved are more useful than questions that offer a yes or no. Listen for the reasons behind a answer as well as the answer itself.
Keep notes short and agreed with the family. Explain what will be recorded, who will see it and how it will be used, and remove information that is no longer necessary.
Turning needs into action
An assessment is only worthwhile if it leads somewhere. Group the needs that families have described, choose the few that the setting can meet well, and tell families what will happen next and when they will hear back. Where a need falls outside the setting's remit, offer to help the family find the right service rather than leaving them to search alone.
Assessment should always be voluntary. A family may decline to take part at any stage, and that choice should be respected without any effect on the support they receive for their child.