Celebrating 20 Years!

NFPN was an early advocate for a federal funding stream for family preservation. Congress approved the Family Preservation and Support Act in 1993 and federal funding for family preservation continues today through the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program.

New International Assessment Tool

The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) is a recognized leader in the research and development of family assessment tools. NFPN currently offers four tools (NCFAS, NCFAS-R, NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R) that are in use by over 750 child and family-serving organizations in the United States and internationally in developed countries.

Today NFPN is pleased to announce the release of a family assessment tool designed for use in Least Developed Countries (LDC).* The foundation for the development of the Family Assessment-LDC tool is the UNICEF report, "The State of the World's Children 2011." While the focus of the report is on adolescents, the definitions, data, and findings are applicable to families.

The purpose of the Family Assessment-LDC is to:

  1. provide a family assessment tool for use by a variety of workers (professional and paraprofessional) serving families in least developed countries.

  2. use standard international definitions to assess the state of family well-being.

  3. identify and prioritize needs of families and services to assist them.

  4. track improvement of family well-being.

  5. assist NGO's (non-government organizations) to identify unmet needs of families at the community level, develop services to meet these needs, and track improvements at the community level.

  6. provide a source of comprehensive data for international organizations, policy makers, and funders that assist least developed countries.
The tool is in an easy-to-use checklist format that collects data on all family members, including:
  • income,
  • health,
  • education,
  • employment,
  • safety,
  • environment, and
  • a summary of family vulnerability.
Aggregate data on a number of families in a defined geographical location provides a picture of the needs of that community in order to assist NGOs, policy makers, and funders to target services to meet those needs.

Five international organizations assisted in the development of the tool and two of these organizations participated in field-testing in Ethiopia and Nepal. The tool was revised several times based on feedback from the NGO's and from the field. The final version of the instrument includes detailed instructions for use and a sample of the tool is also available.

The Family Assessment-LDC is a basic, low-cost instrument that may be purchased and downloaded online. If your organization is part of a larger international organization or if you have international contacts, please tell them about the availability of the tool.

To order, visit:
http://nfpn.org/products/238-family-assessment-ldc-tool.html

Technical assistance for use of the tool is also available. For questions and technical assistance, e-mail Priscilla Martens at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

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*Least Developed Countries as classified by the United Nations: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Is., Somalia, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuata, Yemen, Zambia.

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