Leading a Signs of Safety Organization

Implementing the Signs of Safety comprehensively within a child protection organization depends on significant investment from agency leadership.

The Signs of Safety always focuses on what actually works for the frontline practitioner and the service recipient. However, there is no set piece recipe; every agency has to wrestle out into the open what good practice looks, breathes and works like in their unique context.

The Signs of Safety offers a very sophisticated suite of resources including research based theory, an assessment and planning framework that simplifies complexity, specific practice tools and skill-sets that practitioners readily engage with. However none of these are an end in themselves.

While the Signs of Safety can be utilized as a ‘model’ or product that can be bought, trained and implemented, it is better thought of as a means by which the whole agency can undertake a learning journey to create increasing depth in their organization and practice. This can only happen where agency leaders are in the middle of the learning journey connecting the practice realities with grounded intelligence about possibilities, priorities, limitations and the real politics of their agency context.

This one-day intensive is designed for agency, policy and research leaders and includes:

• A presentation by video-link from Terry Murphy on the state-wide Signs of Safety implementation in Western Australia
• Three short presentations by three Minnesota Counties on their struggles, successes and strategies in implementing the Signs of Safety
• A presentation by Dan Koziolek offering his experience and reflections on leading the Signs of Safety over seven years at Carver County
• A presentation by Andrew Turnell locating practice depth that focuses on child safety and wellbeing as the primary goal of any Signs of Safety implementation, and the lessons he sees from working with implementing organizations around the world
• A series of participatory small group exercises to deepen participants’ responses to the presentations, including a final plenary process drawing out key learning and possible shared directions and strategies.

Participants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire prior to the event asking them to describe the challenges and questions they would most like to see addressed and this information will be shared with all presenters.

All participants are encouraged to view Terry Murphy’s presentation at the 2012 International Signs of Safety Gathering, (available at signsofsafety.net/1109-terry) and to read The Signs of Safety: A Comprehensive Briefing Paper, (available at signsofsafety.net/briefing-paper). All participants will receive a printed copy of the latest version of the Briefing Paper at the event.

Speakers

Terry Murphy is the Director-General of the Department of Child Protection (DCP) Western Australia, which has more than 2,200 employees serving a state of 2.5 million square kilometres and 2.3 million inhabitants. In 2008, the Western Australian government, Terry and the DCP Executive made the decision to implement the Signs of Safety as its framework for assessing and organising all child protection practice throughout the agency. From that time under Terry’s leadership, actively involving all levels of the organisation the Signs of Safety implementation has been central in transforming the agency culture and practice outcomes.

 
Andrew Turnell is the co-creator of the Signs of Safety approach to child protection casework, first developed in West Australian during the 1990’s which continues to evolve as it is increasingly utilised internationally. Andrew teaches regularly around the world and acts as an ongoing consultant to child protection systems in Australasia, Europe, Japan and North America. Andrew is currently preparing his third book, Building Safety in Child Protection Practice: Working with a Strengths and Solution Focus in a Risk Environment. For more information go to: www.signsofsafety.net

Dan Koziolek
is the Manager of Child and Family Services in Carver County, Minnesota where he has worked for the past 14 years. He has previous county social work and supervisory experience and has also worked in residential care, day treatment, and in-home therapy. Dan’s most significant experiences with leading change includes participation in two Breakthrough Series Collaboratives, one on Recruitment and Retention with Casey Family Programs in 2003 and one on Safety and Risk with American Humane in 2008, and in learning the Signs of Safety approach through an ongoing consulting relationship with Andrew Turnell that began in 2005.

Testimonials

"As Director of our state’s public child welfare program, I was hoping to gain knowledge to support and guide our state-wide Signs of Safety implementation. In the end, it (the Signs of Safety training) surpassed all my expectations and I developed a strong understanding of what this practice development journey looks like through the eyes of those actually doing the work with children and families, as well as those who supervise cases, and those managing organizations."

Dan Despard
Director Child Welfare
Office of Child and
Family Services, Maine

"The main thing about the Signs of Safety approach is that it is a learning journey; it is an evolving approach. It is practitioner-led evidence that determines the approach."

"From my experience this is the only approach that pulls together all the strands of child protection work, and it’s the only approach that reconciles the apparent and real contradictions in child protection work."

Terry Murphy
Director General
Western Australian
Department for Child Protection