Professionals working in child protection should be aware of the limits of their knowledge and the benefits of coordinating their assessments with those of other professionals. In the most complex child maltreatment cases, families may be referred to a multi-disciplinary child protection team for assessment. Benefits of a team approach are described, along with ethical issues in assessment and the co-occurrence of various types of child maltreatment. Child assessment procedures are detailed that cover assessing child development, interviewing children, interviewing for suspected sexual abuse, and assessing emotional reactions in child interviews. Parent assessment procedures are also discussed that focus on parent reactions to assessment, childhood history, parental impulse control, substance abuse, parent-child relationships, socialization, parenting skills, and mental disorders. Finally, the author considers the assessment of family interactions and the termination of parental rights. 84 references