Child Status Index
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The Child Status Index (CSI) enables assessment of a child’s current needs, monitoring of changes in specific dimensions of child well-being, and identification of areas of concern that may be addressed through program intervention. The CSI enables community care workers to gather information in the following areas:
- Food/nutrition. Does the child have sufficient and nutritious food at all times to grow well and to have an active and healthy life?
- Shelter and care. Does the child have shelter that is adequate, dry and safe? Is there at least one adult who provides consistent love and support?
- Protection. Is the child safe from abuse, neglect or exploitation? Is there adequate legal protection for the child?
- Health care. Is the child healthy? Does he/she have access to preventive and treatment health services?
- Psychosocial. Is the child happy and have hope for a good life? Does the child enjoy good relationships with other children and adults?
- Education. Is the child performing well at home, school, job training, or work and developing age appropriate knowledge and skills? Is the child receiving the education or training he/she needs to develop knowledge and skills?
This assessment tool helps community care workers to systematically monitor and document a child’s well-being, enabling information-based case management decisions. Initially, the CSI was developed for programs that support children affected by HIV/AIDS, but it is applicable to programs supporting children generally.
The CSI was designed to gather information on individual children at provider level, and is not as a tool for gathering population-level information on children’s well-being. The CSI is meant to enable better case management, and is not intended for the collection of information for reporting purposes only; that is, information captured using the CSI is meant to be used at the local level. The CSI was successfully field-tested for inter-rater reliability and construct validity in Kenya and Tanzania. It has been in trial use in other countries, including Ethiopia, Rwanda, India, and Cambodia, and MEASURE Evaluation receives regular feedback from field workers about the applicability of the factors and ratings to these contexts.
The CSI tools are available here:
CSI Manual - in revision
