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What is the Role of the CANS in CFTs?
What is the Role of the CANS in CFTs?
The Integrated Practice Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (IP-CANS) tool is more than just a behavioral health assessment - it’s a shared communication tool. It helps teams identify a youth and family’s needs and strengths in collaboration with caregivers and supports. The CANS must be completed before developing the case plan and reviewed at every Child and Family Team (CFT) meeting (at least every 6 months or sooner if significant changes occur). It promotes a common understanding, guides decision-making and case planning, and monitors progress across multiple life domains.
How Can I See Examples of CANS in CFTs in Action?
How Can I See Examples of CANS in CFTs in Action?
Cheryl and Family: Roleplay Videos 1
Cheryl and Family: Roleplay Videos 1
Watch Cheryl’s short video series to see how the CANS can be used in a collaborative, family-centered way. These clips offer a powerful demonstration of centering youth and family voices, creating shared understanding, and respectfully exploring culture and context.
How Do I Introduce CFT Meetings and the CANS to Families?
How Do I Introduce CFT Meetings and the CANS to Families?
When introducing Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings and the CANS to families, explain that these meetings bring together trusted people and professionals to talk about strengths, needs, and next steps for their child and family. To help families feel prepared and comfortable, consider sharing a family-friendly brochure and/or invite them to watch a short CFT video that explains what to expect and how they can participate. Reviewing these resources together supports understanding and reassures families that their voice and input are central to the process.
Brochures are available for parents/caregivers, youth, and professionals in different languages
Videos to introduce the CFT Process are available for parents/caregivers, youth, and professionals
What Tools Can I Use to Introduce and Discuss the CANS with Families?
What Tools Can I Use to Introduce and Discuss the CANS with Families?
The CFT team can use a variety of visual and family-friendly CANS tools to explain the CANS assessment process and what the ratings mean. Resources like the CANS flyer for families, laminated rating sheets, the action levels poster, and child-friendly rating cards help make the conversation clear, transparent, and easier to engage in. These tools support collaboration and consensus-building by making the CANS a shared language between families and providers.
What Are Some Best Practices for CANS Conversations in CFT Meetings?
What Are Some Best Practices for CANS Conversations in CFT Meetings?
This Quick Guide offers practical, step-by-step instructions for integrating the CANS into Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings in a way that is collaborative, family-centered, and aligned with state guidance. It includes tips for preparing families in advance, using visual tools during the meeting, and guiding the team toward shared understanding and actionable next steps.
This tip sheet provides practical strategies for using the CANS as a foundation for collaborative action planning during CFT meetings. It emphasizes the importance of engaging all team members in open dialogue to reach consensus on which needs and strengths should guide the case plan, ensuring shared understanding and buy-in even when perspectives differ.
Where Can I Find Other Resources/Training to Strengthen Practice?
Where Can I Find Other Resources/Training to Strengthen Practice?
This shared folder contains curated tools and resources to support providers and CFT teams in integrating the CANS into CFT meetings, including tip sheets, rating tools, family-friendly materials, and meeting prep guides. It serves as a one-stop hub for downloadable documents that can be printed, laminated, or used during CFT, supervision, and team meetings.
This guide offers foundational training on how to use the CANS as a collaborative tool for engaging families and planning care during CFT meetings. With a strong focus on values like shared decision-making, cultural responsiveness, and consensus-building, the guide includes case examples, activities, and tip sheets.
This guide supports supervisors and trainees in using the CANS as a reflective supervision tool to enhance collaborative assessment and planning practices. It offers structured prompts, case examples, and supervision activities that help bridge training and field application, while reinforcing the values of shared language, cultural responsiveness, and fidelity to the CANS process.
This CANS, CFT, and ICPM Training Portal offers statewide, CDSS-endorsed training for staff involved in completing the IP-CANS, facilitating CFT meetings, or implementing the Integrated Core Practice Model (ICPM). The site includes required certification modules, supervision training, and resources for building cross-system collaboration and fidelity to family-centered teaming practices.
How Do We Evaluate Effectiveness and Impact of our CANS in CFT Work?
How Do We Evaluate Effectiveness and Impact of our CANS in CFT Work?
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