Signs of Safety/Family Finding

To make any sense of strengths-based thinking and practice in child protection you have to address the fundamental questions:

• How can the practitioner use their authority skilfully and still work collaboratively with parents?
• How can the practitioner bring rigorous professional knowledge about harm and danger and at the same time approach parents and extended family as people who bring strengths, resources, and solutions?

The book tackles these issues head on and frames answers based in practice and in language that will resonate with child protection professionals everywhere. This book significantly extends our professional thinking about how to do child protection and how to research and build theory together with practitioners. Anyone who wants to do child protection practice more rigorously and more compassionately should read this book.

The author, Carolyn Oliver, is an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia as well as the Strategic Policy Advisor for Canada’s largest urban Aboriginal child protection agency.4th Edition of the Signs of Safety Briefing Paper Released May 2017
The Signs of Safety is a constantly evolving practitioner’s model and because of this, written material cannot usually keep up with the latest developments. The Signs of Safety Briefing Paper has been continually updated to provide the most up to date overview of the Signs of Safety as it continues to evolve. This fourth edition of the Signs of Safety Briefing Paper offers a comprehensive overview of the Signs of Safety approach and underpinning theory, as well as detailing the research and implementation science that supports it.Signs of Safety IT System April 24, 2017 was a breakthrough day for the Signs of Safety approach.
On that day in Islington London, together with Servelec HSC, the first fully specified Signs of Safety information management system was launched.The system’s forms embed all the of the Signs of Safety practice elements, from intake through to closure, and include all the assessment and planning methods. Comprehensive Signs of Safety practice guidance is also embedded throughout the system. Since the Servelec system is built in the English context, the system is also fully compliant with English legislative and statutory returns requirements…With the launch of the Signs of Safety IT system, Signs of Safety consultants can now offer any child protection organization the forms, experience and IT partners that are needed to implement a Signs of Safety IT system for their agency. This will enable the agency to create the recording environment where workers are supported to practice using the Signs of Safety approach, and deliver an IT system that workers will want to use because it will help them carry out their direct work with families…

Video from the Fourth Western Australian Signs of Safety Gathering  October 2016
The Western Australian Department for Child Protection and Family Support hosted their fourth Signs of Safety Gathering. Featuring the theme “Reflect, Reboot, Renew” the event was attended by Departmental staff, representatives from other government and non-government agencies, and also international presenters:
Mike Caslor – Canada
Beth Farquharson – Canada
Jill Devlin and Lee Roberts – New Zealand

Signs of Safety The Three Houses App  is the first of a series of practice-focused apps that will be integrated into a Signs of Safety IT and recording system that is currently in development as part of the Signs of Safety England Innovations Project.

The Power of Partnership Video & Workbook: How to Use Signs of Safety in Child Protection

Signs of Safety Supervisor Practice Fidelity Assessment Casey Family Programs have just released the first report that describes the development of a supervisor assessment fidelity measurement tool