Project Risk and Needs Assessment in the Child Protection System (VRINEP)

The Risk and Needs Assessment protocol in the Child Protection System (VRINEP) is an online assessment tool that provides information about the strengths and needs of children and adolescents in residential care. This protocol provides information about a series of factors and variables grouped into eight areas of development:

Physical
Intellectual/cognitive
Affective/emotional
Personality/attitudes
Family
School/training
Leisure and free time
Residential context

This tool has been designed to help professionals in needs assessment and decision-making. More specifically, the VRINEP protocol aims to contribute both to the development of the Individualized Education Project (PEI) of children and adolescents in residential care, as well as to the adaptation of intervention strategies and case plan follow-ups.

Access to the VRINEP online protocol is provided directly by the members of the research team of the project. Once the questionnaire has been completed for each child, a report with the obtained results can be downloaded, which includes a description of the variables, as well as the score obtained by the child or adolescent in each of them.

There are two versions of the VRINEP protocol:

VRINEP-C: child version for boys and girls between 6 and 11 years old. This version has been designed to be completed by group care workers.
VRINEP-A: adolescent version for males and females between 12 and 18 years old. This version includes two questionnaires to be completed independently by group care workers and by the adolescent.

Main objectives of the VRINEP research project

The research project “Risk and needs assessment protocol in the Child Protection System. Utility and analysis of risk profiles in children in residential care” is carried out by members of the research group Underisk, in collaboration with the research group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies of the University of Leiden (The Netherlands). This project has two general objectives:

To analyze the usefulness of the VRINEP protocol and its applicability in the child protection system for the analysis of needs and strengths of children and adolescents in residential care.
To delve into the study of the different profiles and developmental trajectories of children and adolescents in residential care, risk and protective factors and associated consequences.

If you wish to know more about the VRINEP protocol, you can consult here the brief guide (only in Spanish).