FCP provides home-based services to intact families to reduce the risks of neglect, abuse, family disruption, and family dissolution. One-to-one parent education, counseling, modeling, and coaching are key elements of the program. The Family Assessment Form (FAF), the result of a 3-year developmental process, collects information on the family's environment, a psychosocial history, the caregivers, the children, and family interactions. Items are rated on a one-to-five basis in relation to need for service. The FAF is used at assessment and at case termination to help guide FCP workers in assessing client strengths and weaknesses, developing appropriate service plans, and observing and recording client change. It also provides systematic information on clients at service entry and at termination to facilitate continual program monitoring, evaluation, and development. This article describes the agency context, the development process, the resulting instrument, workers' response to the process, results of a pilot study on instrument reliability, and conclusions about the development process. 4 notes, 20 references.