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Effective parenting capacity assessment:
Key issues
Introduction What is competent parenting?
This Research to Practice Note has been developed Competent parenting is about adaptability to the
to provide practitioners with an overview of the key changing requirements and circumstances of the
issues associated with parenting capacity assessment. child.4 To achieve this, parents need to be able to
problem-solve and understand their child’s
It complements the Research to Practice Note, capabilities. Adaptability is related to three
Parenting capacity assessment: Improving decision-making, underlying dimensions. These are:
both of which have been developed from the
Assessment of Parenting Capacity (DoC S, 2005) • perceptiveness - a parent’s awareness of their
literature review. child, and what is happening around them, and
the effects of their own behaviour on a situation
• responsiveness - the extent to which a parent
Background connects with their child
Parenting capacity refers to parents’ ability to • flexibility - the ability of a parent to respond in
nurture their children, protect them from risk and different ways according to the needs or
enhance their developmental experiences. demands of specific situations.
It is integral to the work of child protection
practitioners as assessments are used to inform What is ‘parenting capacity’?
decisions about whether to remove and/or restore ‘Parenting capacity’ is the ability to parent in a ‘good
children to the care of their parents. enough’ manner long term.5 It is different from
Effective parenting capacity assessment rests on ‘parenting ability’ where an individual may be able
three key issues: to parent for a short period of time in specific
circumstances but not have the capacity to parent
1. definitional clarity effectively long term.
2. an understanding of the problems that can Parenting capacity varies at different points in time
occur in parenting depending on the circumstances facing parents and
3. the quality of the parenting capacity their children.
assessment reports.
What is ‘good enough’ parenting?
Models of parenting generally refer to optimal
Definitional clarity parenting competence. ‘Good enough’ parenting, on
Without clarity around what is to be assessed and the other hand, is a term generally used to describe
how the findings should be interpreted, determining the minimum amount of care needed so as not to
what constitutes acceptable parenting capacity can cause harm to a child.
be difficult. In other words, if a parent is faced by adversity (such
as being single, poor or depressed) but the quality of
What is parenting? parenting behaviour is still adequate, the outcome for
The purpose of parenting is to facilitate a child’s the child should not be compromised. It is the quality
optimal development within a safe environment.1 of the immediate moment-to-moment behaviour of
It is a ‘task’ that includes a number of dimensions: the parent towards the child that is the major
sensitivity to a child’s needs, social communication, influence on the child’s wellbeing.6 Therefore, although
emotional expressiveness and disciplinary control.2 these conditions may be markers of difficulties in
Parenting occurs within a relationship that is affected parenting among the general population, their presence
by a wide variety of factors. The interaction of these in a particular case is not necessarily an indication of
‘determining factors’ in relation to increasing risk or an inability to meet minimum parenting standards.
acting as compensatory ‘buffers’ is crucial to an
understanding of the parenting process.3 Inconsistent community standards, as to what
constitutes acceptable behaviour, make it
It is important to recognise that qualities seen as
difficult to define and quantify minimum
important to encourage in a child in one culture are
parenting standards and establish benchmarks.
likely to differ in another.
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Problems that can occur in parenting Further reading
The capacity of parents to be adaptable can be • Assessment of Parenting Capacity. Literature
affected by a wide range of factors for example, Review. NSW Department of Community
substance abuse, marital conflict, stress, mental Services, 2005. Copies are available on
health problems and learning difficulties. DoCS’ intranet and internet –
While none of these factors per se predict parenting www.community.nsw.gov.au
capacity, they can make parents more vulnerable
to reduced parenting capacity. The impact on
parents’ cognitions, attributions and capacity to
Endnotes
empathise has been associated with increased risk 1 Reder, P., Duncan, S. & Lucey, C. (2003) Studies in the Assessment of
Parenting. London: Routledge.
for child maltreatment.
2 Rutter, M. (1985). Resilience in the face of adversity. British Journal
of Psychiatry. 147: 598-611.
Lack of parental empathy is associated with
poorer outcomes for children.vii Thus a key 3 Woodcock, J. (2003). The social work assessment of parenting: an
exploration. British Journal of Social Work. 33: 87-106.
requirement of the parenting role is a parent’s
capacity to empathise with their child and set 4 Azar, S.T. & Cote, L.R. (2002). Sociocultural issues in the evaluation
aside their own needs in order to meet those of the needs of children in custody decisionmaking: What do our
current frameworks for evaluating parenting practices have to offer?
of their children.8
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 25: 193-217.
5 Conley, C. (2003). A review of Parenting Capacity Assessment
Quality of parenting capacity Reports. OACAS Journal. 47(3): 16-22.
assessment reports 6 Scott, S. (1998). Intensive interventions to improve parenting.
Archives of Disease in Childhood. 79(1): 90-93.
Parenting capacity assessment reports are often the
7 Kilpatrick, K. (2004). The Parent Empathy Project. Presentation
vehicle by which the findings of formal assessments
for NSW Department of Community Services, Glebe,
are translated through court processes into 30 September 2004.
permanent care plans for children. In many
8 Donald, T. & Jureidini, J. (2004). Parenting Capacity. Child Abuse
instances these reports are compiled by an outside
Review. 13: 5-17.
assessor acting as an expert witness.
9 Budd, K.S. & Holdsworth, M.J. (1996). Issues in clinical assessment
A number of concerns about the use of parental of minimal parenting competence. Journal of Clinical Child
evaluations in child protection decisions have been Psychology. 25: 1-14
identified, specifically:
• Contemporary parenting models focus on
optimal rather than minimal parenting
competence and for constructs such as warmth
and nurturance, few behavioural indicators have
been established.
• Constructs typically assessed by mental health
professionals lack relevance to legal questions in
child protection cases. Psychological tests assess
intelligence, academic functioning and personality
but are not designed to assess competence in The DoCS Research to Practice program aims to promote
caring for and interacting with children. and inform evidence-based policy and practice in
community services.
• In the absence of specific referral questions,
professionals focus on general information
already known or less pertinent to the case. Produced by
• Mental health professionals must convey the Centre for Parenting and Research
limitations of instruments they use to the judges. NSW Department of Community Services
4-6 Cavill Avenue
• There is a lack of consensus on what should be
Ashfield NSW 2131
included in parenting assessments.9
02 9716 2222
As parenting capacity assessments form the basis for
child protection decision-making, the quality of the www.community.nsw.gov.au
reports is crucial. researchtopractice@community.nsw.gov.au
ISBN 0 7310 4387 1
