Signs of Safety (SoS)
The Strengthening Families Approach to
Children’s Services
What this presentation will cover
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An explanation of the Signs of Safety model
Why are we doing it
What we want to do
How will it be delivered
How will it be resourced
How long will it take [timescale]
What is SoS 1..
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It is a systemic way of working with families which identifies strengths, reduces
risks to children and enables solutions to family problems to be found as early as
possible to prevent family breakdown and family dysfunction
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The principles and practice of the SoS have been formulated as a response to a
number of the SYSTEMIC challenges identified in child and family welfare many of
which were critiqued in the Munro review, with its emphasis on early help being
given to families and prevention of high risk to children.
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SoS requires COLLABORATIVE work across all agencies and professional disciplines
and encourages family participation through listening to the contributions of the
child, the parents, and all the relevant personal and professional links to a family’s
network.
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Its approach to Managing Risk and Safety encourages transparency and rigour in
professional judgement when identifying risks and strengths and provides a
coherent framework for planning future interventions.
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Most significantly, it demands the type of critical and reflective thinking which
which cannot be provided in traditionally linear supervision formats.
What is SoS 2..
• The Signs of Safety model can be seen as a practical framework aimed
at equipping social workers and other professionals with techniques
and skills to create co-operative relationships with children and
families who are involved in the child protection, from the early
stages [pre-statutory] right through to the specialist and acute levels
of need .[Hillingdon’s core operating model]
• The model draws on the language and tenets of brief solution focused
therapy. Solution focused therapy is a “client centred approach”
developed mainly by Steve de Shazer et al (1985). It operates on the
premise that even in the face of difficulty, “the client” is already in
possession of resources which if supported, can be consistently
mobilised by the client to elicit desirable changes.
• Contrary to traditional approaches to risks which tend to focus on the
deficits of a client’s circumstances, the Signs of Safety model (SoS)
looks at the client’s existing strengths and potential safety capacity
for children to thrive within their family context.
What is SoS 3..
• This is achieved through the use of methods of questioning
which promote reflective, forward –thinking, using a nonblaming, respectful and co-operative stance.
• The compassionate philosophies of this approach have been
reportedly conducive to empowering both the client, social
worker and professionals working with the family.
• The questions used in sessions are framed in positive
psychology which serves to reframe the way the client views
their situation and simultaneously expands the social worker’s
perspectives on the problem.
What is SoS 4..
• As all parties become agents in the change process
SoS has been effective in helping with case impasse
and in alleviating social worker-client impasses and
conflicts and promotes increased levels of
engagement.
• SoS is the one of the first models to implement
robust principles around partnership and family
participation from early intervention to the intake
of referrals and all the way through to case closure
ensuring that focus is maintained on positive
outcomes, especially for children.
Why Signs of safety (SoS) in Hillingdon
• Hillingdon is committed to its transformation
agenda, and to re-position the children’s service at
the centre of cutting edge social work research and
practice in line with the recommendations of the
Munro review.
• The Signs of Safety-Strengthening Families model
(SoS) has attracted significant local, regional and
international recognition in Children's services as an
outcome–focused, strengths-based model with
humanist principles underpinned by research and
evidence-based practice.
Why SoS – Evidence from Munro - 1
• ‘Children and young people are a key source of information about
their lives and the impact any problems are having on them in the
specific culture and values of their family. It is therefore puzzling
that the evidence shows that children are not being adequately
included in child protection work’
• Munro’s systems analysis sheds light on how the perils of maintaining
a culture of over-bureaucracy and compliance have necessitated a
mandatory shift to a culture which must develop professional
expertise to improve interventions.
• This is in order to ensure that social work practice is focused on child
safety, empowerment of families, effective multi agency working
and measurable child focused outcomes.
Why SoS – Evidence from Munro - 2
• The consequences of excessively target driven and output oriented
work is most succinctly described in Munro’s view that:
• ‘Social workers are often reliant on one person for case reflection,
practice knowledge and managerial skill set. Decision-making on
cases is frequently the responsibility of that manager, despite the
manager often not knowing the child and family very well, if at all.
This leaves the social worker in an awkward predicament, holding
case responsibility, but with little autonomy for decision-making.
• Flexibility in accessing other reflective opportunities to think
differently about what is happening in a family and what might help,
can be very limited. A common experience amongst social workers is
that the few supervision opportunities are dominated by a
managerial need to focus on performance, for example, throughput,
case closure, adhering to timescales and completion of written
records. This leaves little time for thoughtful consideration of what
is happening in the lives of children and their families.’
Why SoS – OFSTED - 1
• Two key recommendations from the Munro report in regards to
OFSTED Inspections are:
• The inspection framework should examine the effectiveness of
the contributions of all local services, including health,
education, police, probation and the justice system to the
protection of children (Recommendation 2).
• The new inspection framework should examine the child’s
journey from needing to receiving help, explore how the
rights, wishes, feelings and experiences of children and young
people inform and shape the provision of services, and look at
the effectiveness of the help provided to children, young
people and their families (Recommendation 3).
Why SoS – OFSTED 2..
• Inspections should focus on the child’s experience and
outcomes for the child across the whole of the child’s
journey, not just from the point of referral to children’s social
care. Munroe’s view is that inspection should assess:
• the effectiveness and impact of the help provided, or not
provided,
• as well as the quality of initial identification and assessment
OFSTED - What will be Inspected
The critical areas to be inspected are:
a)
the effectiveness of multi agency arrangements for the
identification of children at risk of harm.
b)
the provision of early help to resolve those concerns
c)
the effectiveness of the local authority and partnership
system that protects these children if the risk remains or
intensifies.
How does the SoS model work in Practice?
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Turnell and Edward point out that the preoccupation with risk permeates
all aspects of Child protection work and compromises the attention which
needs to be paid to developing a safety plan for children to provide them
with safety in their present and future.
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Therefore, SoS advocates that alongside risk assessments, the discovery of
the sources of safety in each family needs to be explored from the onset
of social work or early professional intervention.
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The first stage required from the practitioner is that they obtain the
perspective of the family about their perceived competencies and goals to
ensure the safety of the child(ren).
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Following this, the practitioner then explicitly states the perspectives of
the statutory agency, and early intervention services and clarifies its own
safety goals for the child.
Key Elements of SoS 1..
Significance of hearing the competing Narratives - In order for
the risk and safety assessment to be undertaken, the practitioner
needs to ensure that they elicit the stories from the child(ren)
and all family members and identify the stance that the parent
has adopted in relation to any child welfare or safeguarding
concerns.
Exploring Exceptions to the Rule - Exceptions to the rule is an
idea derived from the solution focused repertoire of Steve de
Shazer. It encourages the parent to identify instances wherein
abuse or neglect could have happened but did not.
Key Elements of SoS 2..
Expanding the context of the family picture - SoS requires the
practitioner to elicit the strengths and resources within the family
by asking questions about how family members perceive each
other and hold each other in mind. This approach is said to yield
valuable information about aspects of the family which can be
developed as part of the safety plan designed to alleviate the
abusive interactions between the child and their parents.
GOALS and OBJECTIVES - Turnell and Edwards have pointed out
that most pertinent to the SoS model, is the robust manner in
which it is able to facilitate concrete goals from the family and
equally clear goals from the local authority and other agencies.
Use of the SoS model explicitly asks the family and the
professional network questions which will elicit clarity and a level
of mutuality in understanding what needs to happen to resolve
the abuse, or meet their needs .
Key Elements of SoS
Scaling as a tool to monitor progress and cooperation –
In order to obtain specificity and detail in Child
welfare or child safeguarding, scaling questions on
a continuum from risk to safety can be asked to
find out how the parent and family network are
rating their progress towards the desired
outcomes.
Key Elements of SoS
Motivation & Capacity for Change - As the SoS approach uses methods to
gain active participation from the parent, the plan will contain ideas
which the parent will often feel comfortable with working towards (given
that they have either been able to achieve it before) or they may feel
confident in their ability to learn with agency support.
Assessment & Planning - Signs of Safety require practitioners to
critically review their perceived indicators of risk alongside the signs of
safety within the family. The assessment then calls for all the
practitioner and core professional network to exercise their professional
judgement by allocating a child safety rating to each area of risk using
the safety scale. It is worth noting that the SoS model is used as an
information gathering process which can offer practitioners a rigorous
framework to qualify their professional judgement whenever asked to
evidence their decision-making process. As parents are required to
witness and participate in this information gathering process particularly
in CP conferences, the model has even been used in cases where
decisions have made for children to be adopted.
Proposals for change – Implementing SoS
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All Management Structures to be informed and trained about the use and
application of the model – including the Children’s Pathway Board, The
Hillingdon Safeguarding Children’s Board, The LA’s Divisional Managers Group…
These are currently being scheduled.
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As SoS is a whole systems approach, it will require the Senior Managers across
the partner agencies to be trained and familiarised with the principles of the
model. The first of the proposed training dates took place on 22 March 2013.
[this included the designated safeguarding leads within the agencies, e.g.
Designated Teachers, Nurses etc].
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The establishment of a project steering group to ensure the embedding of the
model across all agencies.
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The training of individual champions across the partnerships, to facilitate
trainers in each agency to train their staff in the SoS model, so that the model
is embedded across all levels of the partnership agencies
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The training of all Case Conference chairs to facilitate a
Strengthening families model in Case Conferences.
Training Plan for SoS –Stages
Stage 1
• Senior Managers, frontline managers, IRO’s, CAF co-ordinator & LSCB training
leads will be required to make up the first training cohort to support managers
to understand how use of the model will facilitate the change in practice
culture to resonate with the organisation’s mission to create a learning
culture to improve outcomes for children.
Stage 2
Steering groups will be required to review how the thinking and practice of
the Signs of Safety model may best be embedded across all aspects of the
organisation to address the following:
• Identify any required changes to areas of the organisation to support the use
of the model
• Review the feedback from staff, and other professionals and families
• Ensure that communication loops are kept fluid enough to achieve effective
communication about the model across all levels of staff
• Review any operational or logistical challenges which may be impacting on the
progress of the model’s implementation & assist with administrative issues
especially regarding locations and equipment.
• Provide feedback to senior management
Training Plan for SoS –Stages
Stage 3
• This stage would be required to factor in all administrative changes
which would need to be implemented to ensure that all SoS forms are
uploaded onto ICT or tailor made through Liquid Logic for the Protocol
system. This will help with the mergence of auditing tools, supervision
and all case management forms, report and conference formats, ensuring
a proper focus on outcomes for children rather processes.
Stage 4
• Action Learning sets would need to be considered to provide managers
with a reflective forum to offer peer support and advice around any
experienced challenges around use of the model. The learning sets would
also provide a forum for reviewing any further areas within the strategic
and operational planning of the service which may benefit from use of
the SoS of framework. Feedback around the progress of these learning
sets would need to be provided to senior management. These sessions
would be required to be rolled out over an 8- 12 week period and will be
attended by 8-10 practitioners.
Training Plan for SoS –Stages
Stage 5
• As part to the PADA process the Practice Development lead
and advanced practitioners will jointly attend CP conferences,
home visits and core group meetings to observe the practice of
individual practitioners, and their application and use of the
Signs of Safety model.
• An Evaluation of the model to be conducted jointly with
partner agencies 6 months after commencement and annually
months there afterwards through peer review systems already
established within the LSCB [e.g. multi-agency case auditing]
The Implementation of Child Protection
Case Conferences
• As Child Protection Conferences will require the chair to be more
robust in including the family in order to ensure that plans are
outcome focussed and a shared understanding is established for
change. Bespoke, specific training will be delivered for IROs
• All key lead agency staff across the Safeguarding Children’s Board
will be trained over the next 5-6 months – April to September 2013
• All IROs / Child Protection Case Conference Chairs are being trained
within the 6 months commencing April 2013
• A pilot phase will be initiated in September/October 2013 with an
evaluation scheduled to start in December 2013
• Full scale implementation of conferences to then begin with
evaluation feedback from January 2014
How will the Implementation be
Resourced and Funded ?
• It is proposed that the implementation of the SoS model
will be funded through the Government awarded Grant
given to every LSCB in each Local Authority [including
Hillingdon] for the implementation of Munro.[The
Independent Chairman has agreed this in principle, but it
will be formally presented to the main board meeting in
March 2013].
• The costs for implementation will include the training and
licensing of professionals [e.g. the LSCB Training and
Development Manager] making the case conference rooms
more child focussed and conducive to families actively
participating in the conference, any minor changes to
existing forms on ICS, evaluation of the model at 3 months
and 12 months.
SoS in the UK, and the London Region
• There are several LAs currently implementing the SoS model
both within and outside of London including Brent, Barnet,
Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Wandsworth, Swansea and
Swindon.
• The Strengthening Families model in Child Protection
Conferences is currently being implemented in Oxford, West
Berkshire, Gateshead and Westminster, to name a few.
• Due to the Munro Review and how well SoS addresses her
concerns about the failures of the existing system, the London
Safeguarding Children Board has commissioned research into
the effectiveness of the model across the boroughs that are
using various aspects of the model. Hillingdon will participate,
and take note of the lessons learned from the research.