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Lewisham Safeguarding Children Partnership

If you are worried about the welfare or safety of a child or young person

Email: mashagency@lewisham.gov.uk

Tel: 020 8314 6660

Lewisham Safeguarding Children Partnership

Email: safeguardingpartnership@lewisham.gov.uk

Tel: 020 8314 3396

Signs of Safety Practice Framework

Introduction

In Lewisham we use the Signs of Safety practice framework across the whole of children’s services in our work with children and families. We use this model because it helps Professionals and families to think through problems and solutions together rather than families feeling that everything is being dictated to or done for them.

No matter how difficult a family’s situation there will always be existing strengths, resources and abilities they can draw on; the Signs of Safety approach helps professionals to help families and children identify and build on these existing resources for themselves.

The Signs of Safety assessment and planning process is designed to bring professionals and families together using four core questions:

  1. What are we worried about?
  2. What’s working well?
  3. What needs to happen?
  4. Where would you rate things for the child on a scale of 0 to 10 where ten means the child is safe and professionals can close the case and 0 means the situation is dangerous for the child and they very likely need to live away from their parents until things change?

Partner Briefings

To familiarise partners with Signs of Safety we provide regular half day briefings, the aim of which is:-

  • To develop an understanding of the Signs of Safety principles and practice framework and how it is applied within Children’s Services
  • To gain a working knowledge of the Signs of Safety mapping assessment framework
  • How to use the framework to make effective contributions to multi-agency meetings such as child protection conferences and Child in need Reviews/Core Groups
  • Writing pre-conference reports or making referrals to MASH using the mapping framework
  • Supporting the process of safety planning with the family and network
  • Ensuring the voice of the child and their lived experience is heard/understood
  • The skilful use of authority and maintaining positive working relationship with family and professionals

To View and Book please follow this link: https://www.safeguardinglewisham.org.uk/events/event/signs-of-safety-partnership-briefing 

Signs of Safety Toolkit

The following tools include:

1-4: Templates for the mapping assessment framework for Signs of Safety/Aspiration/Success/Wellbeing with prompt questions.

     1. Mapping Framework Guide and Prompt Questions

     2. Signs of Aspiration of Success Mapping Framework Guide with Prompt Questions

     3. Signs of Wellbeing Mapping Framework Guide and Prompt Questions

     4. SoS Mapping Framework including Contextual Factors and Questions

5&6: A guide and Template for using the My Three Houses tool for gathering information from a child.

     5. My 3 Houses Templates

     6. My 3 Houses Practice Guidance. 

7: The Harm Matrix tool which provides questions to help you unpick your worries around a child and identify exactly what the harm they are suffering looks like and how worrying it is.

     7. Harm Matrix Tool

For more information

A short video introducing Signs of Safety by one of its creators – Andrew Turnell

Web site: https://www.signsofsafety.net/

For further advice or consultation

Alex Campbell   alex.campbell@lewisham.gov.uk

Signs of Safety Practice Lead, Lewisham Workforce Development Team

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