Expert Risk Assessments

The Agency undertakes Forensic Risk Assessments on behalf of Local Authorities, individual agencies and Courts [both private and public law].

ISWA’s associates can also use their expertise to provide preliminary assessments on the viability of parents or relatives to safeguard and meet the needs of a child within the family. Our forensic approach to such assessments can:

The Forensic Risk Assessment Skills of ISWA associates in partnership with Local Authority practitioners can assist:-

• Provide Risk Assessments in complex matters being considered for Court Application
• Prepare complex cases for Court Proceedings
• Through Viability Assessments and Family Group Conferences, identify family members with potential competences to care for children of the family
• Remove the need for Court intervention to instruct multiple assessments
• Establish compliance with The Family Justice Review Recommendations, and so avoid delay

ISWA associates have:-

• Developed considerable expertise in undertaking risk assessments of parents and other family members across the world. 
• This has included countries such as Thailand, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Uganda, India, Pakistan and most European States. 
• We also are highly experienced in dealing with cases of refugee families entering the UK.

ISWA’s Associates have lengthy experience of operating within a range of care environments and have therefore:-

• Direct knowledge of many safeguarding systems both past and present.
• Expertise to offer opinion in cases when there is a question mark of negligence in relation to the duty of care that has been exercised towards children who have been looked after.

ISWA can provide specific expertise to assess and enable vulnerable parents and children in the community. This can provide a better alternative to residential assessments. This extended service provides:-

• An end to end specialist social work intervention service for complex and high risk cases 
• Well focussed, targeted and cost efficient interventions 
• An approach in which complex cases are handled in a time efficient manner without compromising quality 
• A context which allows decision making based upon multi sourced evidence contained within well written reports 
• A service embedded within L.A. procedures and enhances potential of frontline staff

ISWA’s Specialist Community Based Assessments and Intensive Parenting Programmes are therefore highly appropriate to these families.

• ISWA practitioners have specific post qualifying training and skill in this complex arena
• They have specific skills in observation and engaging with vulnerable parents
• They use integrated assessment tools based upon McGaw’s Parent Assessment manual
• They  produce high quality, analytical,  multi-sourced, evidence based  assessments 
• They are specially trained and skilled to deliver “hands on” parenting programmes using a range of specialised techniques designed to enable vulnerable parents. 
• All assessments and intervention  are quality assured by highly skilled consultants.