Let’s reflect together: Building capabilities through participative assessment of the child’s needs

The chapter presents the participatory perspective of a parenting support proposal called Participatory and Transformative Evaluation, used in social work with vulnerable families with children between 0 and 3 years old during the implementation of the main Italian policy to combat poverty and social exclusion, the Citizenship Income (Reddito di Cittadinanza (RdC)). Three case studies were realised in this policy context, within a larger research-intervention-training project named Citizenship Income 0-3: interrelationships between income, parenting and development of children aged 0-3 (RDC03). From the standpoint of the Critical Best Practices, excerpts from these cases are used to illustrate three different dimensions of parental participation: as reflective and critical thinking, as decision-making and as opportunities for parents’ capabilities to flourish. The three dimensions of the PTE are leading to appraise the formative function of the evaluation processes in social work in th...