The HOME Inventory

(The Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment Inventory)

Context

One of a series of practice tools designed to support the implementation of the Assessment Framework in England and Wales (Cox and Walker 2002; Cox, Pizzey and Walker 2009).

Purpose

Assessing the quality of parenting and the home environment provided for the child

Features

  • Hour-long semi-structured interview in the home with the main caregiver and child
  • Framework to assess all aspects of the home environment
  • Provides information about:
    • the nature and variety of the child’s day-to-day experiences
    • the parenting capacity of the caregivers
    • other aspects of the child’s world and the life of the family
  • Available for:
    • children aged 0–3, 3–6, 6–10 and 10–14 years
    • disabled children
    • child care contexts

Benefits

  • User friendly
  • Provides a picture of the child’s world from the child’s perspective
  • Well received by families
  • Well-established and tested
  • Good predictor of outcomes for children
  • Useful in a range of situations:
    • initial and later stages of assessment
    • assessing the level of change following interventions
    • obtaining a detailed picture of the care needed by children in foster and adoptive placements
    • assessing the quality of parenting and the child’s home environment when planning for permanence needs to take place

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Learn more

Learn more about training for groups of staff in the use of The Home Inventory: