CASTER™ (Child and Adolescent Screener for Traumatic Events and Response)

The CASTER is designed for mental health professionals with training and experience in childhood trauma. The CASTER is typically used in clinical mental health services.

• Any parent/caregiver of a child (age 6–18 years) will fill out the “Parent/Caregiver Report”.
• Youth (age 12–18 years) will fill out the “Self-Report”. 
  
  

  Ideally, both youth and parent/caregiver complete the CASTER for youth aged 12–18.

The circumstances under which the CASTER may not be appropriate include:

• If the respondent (youth or parent/caregiver) expresses reservations or hesitancy about completing the CASTER.
• Situations where there is no opportunity to follow-up and debrief the CASTER in real time immediately upon completion.
• Situations where there is inadequate privacy for the youth or parent/caregiver to complete the measure. 
• Crisis situations where the safety of the youth or parent/caregiver is not assured.

The CASTER is a screening tool and should be completed as part of the initial assessment process. It is important to have the necessary consent and rapport established to allow for safety to explore this sensitive material.

Youth or parent/caregivers should only fill out a double-sided printed version of the form (not a photocopied version). A photocopy does not capture shaded distinctions between the rows of items and may lead to completion errors. 

Youth may disclose experiences and/or concerns on this form that they may not feel comfortable sharing in the presence of their parent/caregivers; therefore, youth and parent/caregivers should be given separate and private spaces to complete the CASTER.

Some youth or parents/caregivers may need additional support from the clinician to complete the form. 

Given the sensitive nature of the questions, the CASTER should be completed within a clinical setting with the support of a clinician. Youth and parents/caregivers should be provided separate and private spaces to complete the CASTER.  They should be provided with as much time as needed for completion. 

The clinician should be available to provide support and answer questions, if necessary.

Before the youth/parent/caregiver leaves the meeting, the clinician should review the CASTER to make sure that it is complete and leave time to debrief with the respondent. The clinician should review any incomplete items to determine if there are questions and assist with completion where appropriate.

The youth or parent/caregiver may have disclosed information whereby the clinician has a duty to report or otherwise act on the information provided as per applicable laws or ethical standards. 

The following items are critical items that may require immediate action: 

Section ONE:

1. Drug overdose for your child or someone close to your child
2. Learned about serious harm, injury, or abuse of a family member or someone close to your child
3. Hurt, bullied, or threatened in person or online by someone outside of the family
4. Physically hurt by parent/caregiver (e.g., hit, kicked, hit with object)
5. Physically hurt (e.g., hit, kicked, hit with object) by a close family member who is NOT a parent/caregiver
6. Harsh non-physical discipline by parent/caregiver (e.g., locked in room, withholding food)
7. Harsh or cruel criticism (e.g., threats, name calling, insults) by parent/caregiver
8. Not enough food, appropriate, or clean clothing, or other basic needs
9. Not enough affection, attention, or comfort from a parent/caregiver
10. Saw or heard conflict/violence between parents/caregivers (e.g., screaming, threatening, hitting,
    kicking)
11. Parent/caregiver with problematic drug or alcohol use, gambling, or other excessive behaviour (e.g., video games, social media, shopping)
12. Parent/caregiver with serious emotional or mental health problems
13. Highly sexual home (e.g., saw/heard adult sexuality, frequent sexual language)
14. Exposed to, made to do, or had sexual things done to them by someone in
    the family
15. Exposed to, made to do, or had sexual things done to them by someone outside the family
16. Been offered gifts, money, or drugs/alcohol to do sexual things
17. Kidnapped or abducted

Section TWO

13. Risky or reckless behaviours that endanger themselves or others
14. Playing with matches, lighters, fire
15. Thinking or talking about harming or killing themselves
16. Suicide threats or attempts
17. Purposely harming themselves (e.g., cutting hitting themselves)
18. Thinking or talking about harming or killing others
19. Verbally or physically hurtful towards people
20. Using alcohol, inhalants, or recreational drugs
21. Concerning sexual behaviors (e.g. excessive sexual comments/ behaviors, preoccupation with accessing sexual media)
22. Trying to make others do sexual things touching others in a sexual way

A youth or parent/caregiver may choose not to complete the CASTER. For their records, agencies may want to note that the youth or parent/caregiver declined to complete the CASTER. The youth or parent/caregiver may be offered another opportunity to complete the CASTER, if appropriate.

There are several reasons that all the questions may not be completed. The clinician should review the items that have not been completed with the youth/parent/caregiver to determine if they did not understand the question, were unsure how to fill it out, or were not comfortable answering. If the client feels that they can then answer the question, they should do so.