Case study produced for Suffolk County Council as a training aid

Continuing our partnerships with local authority Noise Solution is working with Suffolk County Council, being used as an exemplary example (their words) of how partner organisations can work in a signs of safety congruent way. Signs of Safety is a strengths-based, safety-organised approach to child protection casework.

The Signs of Safety model  was created in Western Australia by Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards, who worked with over 150 front-line statutory practitioners and based it on what those practitioners know works well with difficult cases. The Signs of Safety approach has attracted international attention and is being used in jurisdictions in North America, Europe and Australasia. It has been adopted by over 40 local authorities in the UK. Unusually Suffolk adopted it not only across Child protection but also across their whole Children and young people's services. 

Noise Solution's very much identifies itself as an organisation that works through peoples strengths and relies on strong communication (through our blogging model) to impact. Our method mirrors a number of aspects of the Signs of Safety approach and in rolling out this new approach to frontline staff we are being used and monitored (especially round our use of social media) to see what lessons can be learned for Suffolk County Council frontline staff. This is especially exciting in terms of a large organisation looking at using the wider world of social media world as a positive addition to tools used when working with people, rather than it being rejected as being negative because of perceived risks. Themes that emerge from Signs of Safety include, working through families strengths, being participatory, non judgemental, identify and grow the resources of the family rather than dictating what they are doing wrong with a strong emphasis on communication and plain language.

Here is the case study