Risk Assessments In Social Work

In my social work placement I must be aware of the meaning of risk and the role it plays in the personal development and social life of a young person. What is risk? It can be defined as the ‘chance or likelihood that a particular behaviour or event will occur. It is the potential for an adverse event to lead to negative outcomes, and by assessing risk we seek to estimate how likely the event is to occur and the nature and seriousness of its impact (RMA, 2011). In this context the adverse event is offending behaviour and the negative outcome is the degree and nature of harm that it causes.

When looking at social work it’s usually associated with the assessment of bad risks. In my allocated cases it’s about reoffending.

• I must be aware that through highly publicised failures to protect service users and the public from dangerous people this has led to policy and practice in relation to risk and its focus on dangerousness (in relation offenders) and significant harm (in relation to children). However in my allocated cases I would say that that the focus would be on both dangerousness due to offending behaviour (the risk that young person poses to others) and significant harm with regards to their vulnerability (the risk that young person is subject to).

•

Risk assessments can be a balancing act, and we must not neglect the rights of individuals in order to control risks.

• The Asset risk assessment I will be using – is a structured assessment tool for use with young offenders. It examines the young person’s offence history and identifies a multitude of factors or circumstances which may have contributed to the behaviour. It will also highlight any particular needs or difficulties for intervention as well as changes in risk and need over