Thinking of Using SCARF?
We believe SCARF can improve practice and is flexible enough for many child and family support services to implement.
Quick check to see if SCARF is likely to fit your particular service:
- Does your service offer individual casework/support to vulnerable families?
- Do you work with families for longer than 6 weeks?
- Are the needs of the children in the family the No1 priority?
- Are the values and principles of your service the same or similar to SCARF (see Values and Principles)?
If you answered Yes to these 4 questions it sounds like SCARF will suit you. Use the links below to find out more.
- A Little More Food For Thought
- Are There Any Costs?
- Request for more Information about using SCARF
SCARF is not just another assessment tool, it is a way of working with families that follows what formal research and practice wisdom has taught us. There are no short cuts and services may find they have to update some of their policies and procedures to be in line with what the model promotes. Because SCARF is based on the principles that Family Support in Australia has been advocating for some time there really are no surprises in it’s content or procedures. The beauty of SCARF is its comprehensive structure and its client and worker friendly tools.
SCARF is a complete case management system comprising of a number of assessment and planning tools.
Implementation is something to be planned quite carefully if the introduction of SCARF is to be successful. Implementation plans for an established service wanting to update their practice may be different to a new service choosing SCARF as their model of practice. SCARF Australia is able to offer advice and guidance in terms of implementation plans to services thinking of using SCARF.
SCARF is a not for profit initiative, it’s aim is to improve child welfare practice in Australia.
It is important therefore that costs don’t prohibit services from using SCARF.
There are no costs for Non-Government and Not For Profit Agencies for SCARF paper Version. An End User Licensing Agreement however must be signed which determines copyright, conditions of use and other quality control measures.
Government services will be asked to contribute the equivalent of $20 per family they use SCARF with/per year to SCARF Australia.
This contribution will be used towards administration and developmental costs of SCARF.
All services need to consider that there may be some initial set up costs e.g. training and computer equipment.
A fully electronic version of SCARF is being designed, it is likely that this will be available to other services in the not too distant future, however there will be costs associated with this version.
More information is available from SCARF Australia on implementation costs.