1. Case Consultation

2. Purpose of Case Consultation
Focus on safety and risk
Sift through to get to important information
Develop safety and case plans
Identify gaps in information
Focus on best practices

3. What is Critical Thinking?
Reasoned judgments that are logical and analyzed
Conclusions are based on evidence, observations, and objective information
Conclusions are examined to ensure new information is incorporated and not justified into the previous assessment
The process of coming to conclusions is examined
Openness to challenging biases in oneself and others

4. Key Critical Thinking Skills
Curiosity
Recognition and challenge of biases
Skepticism/Questioning
Openness to new information and interpretations

5. Groupthink
Groupthink Good Decisions

6. Case Consultation Agenda
Who is in the family and who is in the household?
What safety issues brought this family to our attention?
What were the thoughts, feelings and behaviors surrounding the incident?
What are the risk factors/condition of parents that contributed to those issues?
What are the family’s strengths and protective skills?
Does the family understand the behavioral changes needed to keep the children safe?
Is there a case plan in place that addresses the safety issues and risk factors?
Case consultations work best when the following AGENDA is used:
ASK: Who is in the family? Help members of the team get to know the family by introducing the family members with a genogram. Review ages and any developmental or medical needs of the family members.
ASK: What safety issues brought this case to our attention? What tasks were the parents unable to accomplish that threatened the child’s safety? Focus on the behaviors, not the condition of the parents or family. (For example: The parent did not supervise the toddler rather than that the parent was using drugs.) Also focus on what was happening before, during and after the situation or incident that threatened the child’s safety.
What are the risk factors or conditions of the parents that contributed to the safety issues and/or are barriers to resolving those issues? The most common conditions are substance use, mental health issues, domestic violence, and cognitive disabilities. However, it is important to look at how those issues affected the safety of the child. This is often seen when the worker understands what happened before, during and after the situation or incident that created the safety threat to the child.
What are the family’s strength and protective skills? Specifically, what efforts are the family making to protect the child and what can be built upon to increase the child’s safety? When have there been exceptions to the conditions or behaviors that created the safety threat? Are there areas of their parenting that they do well?
Does the family understand the behavioral changes needed to keep the children safe? Do they understand the skills they are expected to acquire? Is their understanding the same as the understanding of the department? What can be done to help the family visualize the objectives?
Do you have a case plan in place that addresses the safety issues and risk factors? Is the plan directed at the safety threats? Is it SMART? Will you be able to measure progress?

7. Thank you for your time!