Video exercises

Clip four

Click here for Shane's contact sheet (Microsoft Word format)

Click here for Shane's Detailed Record (Microsoft Word format)

Discussion

We also completed entry on a contact sheet on the visit. Contact sheets provide a brief record of all contacts on a case and help to give an overall picture of activity on the case, identify when more detailed records have been made on specific contacts and where these are located in the file.

This record is based on a short five minute extract of a video. In some ways this makes the process of recording more difficult. The fact that some issues where not followed up in any more detail makes it difficult to fully assess their significance.

There are just over five hundred words in our version of the detailed record for Shane. This includes the sections on analysis and future actions. We decided that this level of recording was appropriate given that the practitioner had never met the family before.

The detailed record

We have used a series of heading in our detailed record. These serve two purposes. They help the writer to manage and organise the information they wish to record and they provide a clear structure and break up the text making it easier the reader.

We have started by stating clearly who was there during the visit. We then went on to specify the purpose of the visit. This approach is particularly useful in complex cases or those involving families where there is a high level of disorganisation. It not only helps to ensure that there is a clear focus to visits to families but assists in evaluating whether the objectives of visits are actually achieved.

We have then used the three domains of the Assessment Framework to assist in identifying and recording key issues.

We have included a section on analysis. This is an opportunity for workers to develop their hypotheses and to express their professional opinions.

Having done so we then identified a number of future actions to be carried out.