1. The Signs of Safety Approach
Slides 1 -9 Jo
Slide 10 onwards Sarah 1 1

2. How Signs of Safety came about
It is an approach to child protection casework
Began around late 80’s
Explosion of interest in last couple of years, from all around the world
Designed to help everyone think their way into and through the case from the ‘biggest’ to the ‘smallest’ person

3. Solution Focused Brief Therapy
Jo to talk through this in brief!

4. Questions, questions, questions?
Scaling questions
Exception questions
The miracle question

5. Scaling Questions
A way of setting goals, monitoring progress and identifying achievements
The skill is in the ‘naming’ of the scale and in the follow-up questions
e.g. Depression:
On a scale of 0 – 10 where 10 means that you are trying you are coping really well with life and 0 means you want to kill yourself …..
Safety:
On a scale of 0 – 10 where 10 means you feel completely safe at home and 0 means you don’t feel safe at all ……….
And the follow up
Where are you on the scale?
How did you manage that?
How will things look when the number is higher
When is the last time things were better?
How did you do that?
What small step do you think you could do?

6. Exceptions
The practitioner encourages the client to search for exceptions to the problem i.e. times when the problem does/did not happen or happened in a different way. Lots of detail is then asked for by the practitioner.
Doing this can draw the client’s attention to positive aspects of their lives which they may not be noticing so much
This creates hope for the client and the worker that the problem does not always exist
Exceptions may indicate solutions that have worked in the past and can be reapplied or adapted in the present.

7. The Miracle Question
Typically (although it can be adapted and varied) the question is worded as “Imagine as you sleep tonight a miracle happens and the problems go away, but because you are asleep you don’t know it has happened. When you wake in the morning what would be the signs that the miracle had taken place?”
Can help to clarify goals;
Can lift the conversation out of ‘problem-talk’; and into ‘solution-talk’

8. Four domains of inquiry
What are we worried about? (Past harm, future danger and complicating factors)
What’s working well? (Existing strengths and safety)
What needs to happen? (Future safety)
Where are we on a scale of 0 to 10 where 10 means there is enough safety for child protection

9. 10 STEP THREE STEP TWO: JUDGMENT What are you Worried About?
Thinking about a child/teenager in your life that you feel a worried about:
What are you Worried About?
What’s Working Well?
What Needs to Happen?
STEP ONE: START HERE, BACK AND FORWARDS
STEP THREE
What has happened, what have you seen, that makes you worried about this child/teenager?
What do you like about ___ what are his/her best attributes?
Having thought more about this problem now, what would you need to see that would make you satisfied the situation is at a 10?
Who are the people that care most about ___? What are the best things about how they care for ____?
What would ___ need to see that would make them say this problem is completely sorted out?
When you think about what has already happened to ____ what do you think is the worst thing that could happen to ____ because of this problem?
What would ___ say are the best things about his/her life?
Who would ___ say are the most important people in his/her life? How do they help ___ grow up well?
What do you think is the next step that should happen to get this worry sorted out?
Are there things happening in ____’s life or family that make this problem harder to deal with?
Has there been times when this problem has been dealt with or was even a little better? How did that happen?
On a scale of 0 to 10 where 10 means this problem is sorted out as much as it can be and zero means things are so bad for the young person you need to get professional or other outside help, where do you rate this situation today? (Put different judgment numbers on scale for different people e.g., you, child, teacher etc). 10
STEP TWO: JUDGMENT 9 9

10. Local context….. Strategy discussions / meetings January 12
Initial CPCs April 12 - rationale

11. Child protection Conferences
What are your views on the ‘traditional’ system?
Ask colleagues to discuss in school groups

12. What does research say about traditional Child Protection Conferences?
a valuable forum for professionals from a number of agencies to come together
professionals often talk about the information-sharing that takes place between agencies
the development of an action plan and the positive work of Core Groups
the child protection conference as a forum is taken very seriously.

13. What are the weaknesses?
Insufficient time spent on planning, therefore plans are often of a poor quality
Parents usually take a fairly passive role at conferences and have little impact on decisions made.
Once particular decisions are reached at a conference, they often go unchecked at subsequent meetings/reviews
The Child Protection Process is often seen by parents as a test of their 'willingness to co-operate'.

14. How does the ‘Signs of safety approach’ build on these positive features?
Collaborative
Strengths based
Prospective
Relationship focussed
Collaborative: Whilst some power imbalance is unavoidable in the context of child protection, the 'Strengthening Families' model aims to foster as far as possible a spirit of collaborative working between professionals and families. The model incorporates a stage of information sharing in which all of those present (including family members) are invited to participate. Family members are asked to put forward their views, to talk about their own strengths/concerns and to contribute ideas about the best way forwards. By the end of the conference, there should be a mutually agreed set of goals that both the family and professionals agree to work towards.
Strengths-based: Information that is shared within the context of a 'Strengthening Families' conference is organised using a specific framework, that also acts as a tool for risk assessment. By completing the framework in full, conference members are made aware, not just of the risks and concerns within a family, but also of their strengths and protective factors. It provides a balanced picture of the family, and an awareness of some of the positives that already exist, and can be built upon.
Prospective: Although it is important to be aware of the events that precipitated a particular child protection conference, the 'Strengthening Families' model should assist professionals to look beyond specific incidents. By listening to family members and by completing the framework, conference participants should build up a full and balanced understanding of the family and its needs. This knowledge can then be used to develop a realistic and meaningful set of goals for the future.
Relationship-focussed: One of the consistent messages from social work research is that the quality of relationship between worker and client is one of the best predictors of outcomes. Relationships can have an impact on outcomes even when clients are mandated to work with us. The 'Strengthening Families' model seeks to achieve positive outcomes by developing partnerships between professionals and families, by establishing a sense of equality within these relationships and by ensuring that families are listened to, respected and actively involved.

15. Who is important in your family?
Genogram
Who is important in your family?
We are the experts on our families!

16. STRENGTHS +PROTECTIVE FACTORS
DANGER / HARM
SAFETY
COMPLICATING FACTORS
STRENGTHS +PROTECTIVE FACTORS
This will be displayed in the conference room and each part will be visited by the IRM.
Next slides go through each part in more detail

17. Danger/Harm Descriptions of past harm
Why are we here?
How do issues impact on the children?
Descriptions of past harm
THE BEST PREDICTOR OF FUTURE HARM IS PAST HARM
Other things that are currently happening that represent danger to the child/ren
Complicating factors
Conditions/behaviours that contribute to greater difficulty for the family
Ask what is the danger / harm regarding the children
Always ask how the issues affect the children e.g. so mum is depressed, what is the impact of this upon the children?
e.g. poor school attendance – what % of the time do they get there
Check with worker if this is written in family friendly language
What makes these worries/probs more complicated?
Avoid ‘shopping list’ of what is wrong in this family
Use danger/harm for CP and worries/working well for CIN
Complicating factors – literally factors that make the case more complicated – isolation, poverty, addiction, history of fighting with social services etc. 17 17

18. Safety/Strengths What safety currently exists
Strengths demonstrated as protection over time
Pattern/history of exceptions
What are the strengths of this family
resources and capacities within family, individual/ community
Safety/Strengths need to relate to the list of dangers etc
When information is deemed to be important – check out with the worker if they feel this represents danger or safety.
In checking out if it is important ask – is this something that you think contributes to things being better for the children in this family?
Eg questions –
What do you like about these parents?
What are their best attributes / what do they do well (or even well enough) as parents?
Tell me about times when the kids are looked after OK?
FAMILY NETWORK
Who are the people in the network who are most helpful to the children?
Who would parents/children say help/support them – then look for detail of that support
RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONS
What would the children say they like about their parents?
What would parents say is positive about the children?
What would dad say he thinks mum does well as a mum?
EXCEPTIONS
When has mum attended to child’s needs
When has dad restrained his anger
The house is a mess – how do they manage to keep the kids reasonably clean and healthy?
Has there ever been a time when one of the parents have acknowledged even a little bit that the violence affects the children?
SCALE
10 = you can talk openly with them about the problems, the good stuff and work on ideas together and 0 = they won’t even talk to you. 10 does not mean that people have to like each other!!
If the rating is low, talk about when it has been highest – use the EARS process.
STRESS – a good relationship is key to good outcome – no relationship means no change so spend time on this area.
Scale parents capacity to care – usually gives new information
Scale safety – amplify/inquire for positives on any number above 0

19. Risk Statement
If things were to carry on as they are now, what will happen to the child/children/young person?
Social worker will come with a draft risk statement written, which will be shared with everyone and amended accordingly with input.
Importance of clear language
IRM may explain what the concerns are (using their expertise)
This may be recorded as bullet points or as a paragragh.

20. SAFETY PLAN
A detailed plan that describes how the family will live everyday life, that shows everyone the child/children will be safe
Involves skilful authority
Safety networks-
Safety networks -may involve identifying a key safety person who the child can contact if any concerns
May identify people to support the parents and someone to monitor child’s safety
People the family need to avoid

21. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TOOL
It is a questioning approach
Keeps the child at the centre - Impact
Designed to be used with young people and their families
Focuses on the key current issues
Highlights what is already working well
Can trigger immediate progress
Collaborative working
Feedback from families who have taken part so far…very positive, felt much more involved.
Professionals say that plans are far more effective and clear, not as broad as previously
Sometimes previously could just have been a list of services for parents to attend….this is not a safety plan, this is a service plan!