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The Safety in Partnership
Approach
Transformation Through Supervision
Workshop – Wednesday 15th
April 2015
Jennifer Mc Kinney Karen O’ Brien Deirdre Mahon

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Aim of Today’s Presentation
 To provide those present with an understanding of
Safety in Partnership and its connection to the
safeguarding of children and young people and how
its use in supervision enhances that process and
enables a transformative process of learning.

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Safety in Partnership
 Initially focused on cases bringing families and
professionals together to map out the case (evidence
based, brings together multiple perspectives and
enhances assessment and analysis).
 This enabled the development of a safety plan for the
child(ren) which could be tested reviewed and
monitored over time.

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What is Safety in Partnership?

It is a Systemic, solution focused, evidence based
approach, drawing on many traditional social work tools
including, Family therapy, narrative therapy and brief
therapy principles.
 It includes reflective practice and in particular is based
on developing meaningful relationships with Children
and Families and social networks to build safety for
children

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What is Safety in Partnership?
 Developed initially from ideas within New Beginnings
(WHSCT), enhanced by visiting colleagues such as
Andrew Turnell (Western Australia) and Sue Lohrbach
Olmsted County USA and developed further within the
WHSCT.
“There is no intervention that is neutral, it either
enhances safety or it doesn’t” (Ellen Pence)

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Why Use Safety in Partnership?
 Child Protection Registration by itself does not keep
children safe.
 Most Child protection Plans are usually a list of
Services.
 This does not in itself keep children safe!
 Services are at Best just one means of helping build
meaningful safety for children.
 Intervention is what makes a difference.

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So what difference will Safety in
Partnership make?
Child protection plans on their own do not keep children
safe.
This approach expands the investigation of risk to
encompass strengths and signs of safety that can be build
upon to stabilize and strengthen the child’s and family’s
situation.
There is always an exception.
Clear purpose, focus and sense of direction.
There is also the need to build on the strengths of staff and
teams which in turn strengthens their work with families.

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So what difference will safety in partnership
make?
 Most change takes places in the context of a
relationship.
 How can the worker actually build meaningful
relationships with parents and children in situations
of suspected or substantiated child abuse and still
deal rigorously with the safety of the child –
importance of supervision.

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Evaluation of Safety in Partnership carried out by:
Dr David Hayes
Professor John Pinkerton
Dr John Devaney
Dr Karen McGuigan
School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work,
Queen’s University, Belfast

Methodology
FOCUS GROUPS
12 focus groups involving 99 participants:
•31 social work staff
•35 representatives from strategic/management groups
•33 professionals from other agencies/disciplines
CASE FILES
18 closed social work case files relating to 18 families containing
44 children
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CASE STUDIES
19 current cases relating to 19 families containing 41
children. Analysis involved
interviews with:
•22 parents/carers
•16 social workers
•13 social work managers
•11 professionals from other agencies/disciplines
•5 children/young people

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Developing a Skilled Workforce & Learning
from Practice
 QUB evaluation found that:
 Focus group and interview respondents reported that the use of
SIP led to:
 Opportunities for learning and skills development through training,
supervision and the sharing of practice.
 More reflection on practice.
 Work that was more effectively planned and directed.
 Most social workers and social work managers had received some
level of training.
 Suggested that more information could be provided to newly
appointed workers (induction).
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Relationships
‘Child protection work, at its heart, involves
forming relationships with children, their family
members and others working to support the
child’.
(Munro E (2010) The Munro review of Child Protection Part
One: A Systems Analysis).

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 First contact, first knock at the door, is the beginnings
of a relationship.
 Supervision is a place where these dynamics can be
explored and reflected upon.
 How you approach that, can make a difference to the
outcome.
 Use language that the children and families can
understand.
Relationships

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THEN DETAIL!!
 What are we worried about?
Past harm, future danger, complicating factors
 What is working well?
Existing strengths and safety
 What needs to happen?
Future safety, agency goals, family goals, progress
 Safety and context Scale
Judgement – on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is it is certain the
child has been abused – to 10 – where 10 is there is sufficient
safety to close the case

Danger/Harm
Risk Statements
Safety
Strengths/
Protective Factors
Building Safety & Strengthening Families Practice Framework
GENOGRAM/ECOMAP
Client Name: Ref No: DATE:
Purpose/Focus of
Consultation
Complicating Factors
Next Steps
(Immediate Progress)
Safety/Protection
Required
Current
Ranking
•Detail re incident (s)
bringing the family to the
attention of the agency.
•Pattern / history
•Who
•What
•Where
•When
•How
•Condition / behaviours
that contribute to greater
difficulty for the family.
•Presence of research
based risk Factors
•Strengths demonstrated
as protection over time.
•Pattern / history of
exceptions
•Assets, resources,
capacities within family,
individual / community.
•Presence of research
based protective factors.
•What is the worker /
team looking for in
this consult?
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Why focus on Supervision?
“Good social work involves the capacity to develop and maintain
relationships, manage the emotional dimension of the work and
make judgements and decisions, often in the light of conflicting
information. This is demanding work and will only be effective if
social workers are encouraged to reflect critically on their practice
and to continue developing their knowledge and skills.”
(Wonnacott, 2012)
Greater focus on the supervisor-supervisee relationship and its
connection to the relationship with the family.

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Why supervision?
 On a scale of 1-10 how much has the quality of your
social work/professional practice been affected by the
type of supervision you have received?
(1= not affected at all and 10= has had huge affect)

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Supervision
 Managerialist model became dominant in the 1990s
and into the 21st
century.
 A move from relationships, emotional impact and
dynamics between social worker and family to a
more practical approach focusing on caseloads,
bureaucratic tasks and the management of
resources.

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Supervision
 Child death inquiries have questioned the capacity of
social workers to critically analyse their practice and
manage complex dynamics.
 Supervision needs to move beyond checking and
accountability to a process that helps the worker “to
think, to explain and to understand.”
(Brandon et al, 2008).

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Supervision
 Lord Laming’s Report (2009)
“Regular, high quality supervision is critical, as are
routine opportunities for peer learning and
discussion… Supervision should be open and
supportive, focusing on the quality of decisions, good
risk analysis and improving outcomes for children
rather than meeting targets.” (para 3.15)

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Supervision
 England – Social Work Task Force (2009)- Supervision
should enable social workers to “review their day-to-day
practice and decision making, plan their learning and
development as professionals, and work through the
considerable emotional and personal demands the job often
places on them.”
 Munro review of child protection (2011)- recommended a
style of supervision that gives social workers the reflective
opportunity to think differently and creatively about how
best to help children and families on their caseloads.

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Supervision
 What factors influence supervision within your
context/organisation?
 Is the supervision provided managerial or
reflective?

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A Systemic Approach
The whole is greater than
the sum of its parts.
Identifying individual strengths which when used as a team
and as leaders/supervisors of teams can bring so much to
the organisation.

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Successful teams
 Task – producing results through goals, work plans
and timelines.
 Process – managing processes.
 People – blending the skills and knowledge of
members.

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SIP and Supervision
Performance = Goals + Leadership Abilities + Culture
AGREED
GOALS
AGREED
GOALS
CULTURECULTURE
LEADERSHIP,
ATTRIBUTES,
SKILLS &
EI
BEHAVIOURS
LEADERSHIP,
ATTRIBUTES,
SKILLS &
EI
BEHAVIOURS
PERFORMANCE

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1. Agreed Goals
Three aspects to this
 Practice Principles – crucially important – values and
skills needed to do the work – supervision.
 Mapping – clear purpose to work, information,
analysis, structured decision making, inclusion of
children and families – child’s voice is heard.
 Safety planning – Social networks, Family support
services involved.

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2. Leadership Attributes, skills and EI
(Emotional Intelligence) Behaviours

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Higgs and Dulewicz (1999) definition of emotional
intelligence:
“Achieving one’s goals through the ability to manage
one’s own feelings and emotions, to be sensitive to
and influence other key people and to balance one’s
motives and drives with conscientious and ethical
behaviour.”

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7 elements of emotional intelligence
1. Self-awareness – awareness of own feelings and ability
to manage/control those feelings. Aware of how your
behaviour impacts on others around you. Includes as
degree of self belief in one’s ability to manage one’s
emotions and to control their impact in a work
environment. "We don't see things as they are, we see
things as we are." (Attributed to Anais Nin, French-born American
writer, 1903-1977.)
2. Emotional resilience – performing consistently under
pressure in range of situations and adapt behaviour
appropriately. The ability to balance the needs of the
situation and task with the needs and concerns of the
individuals involved. Keeping focus on action/results.

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7 elements of emotional intelligence
3. Motivation –drive and energy to achieve clear results, make
an impact and balance short term and long term goals.
4. Interpersonal sensitivity – be aware of and take account of,
the needs and perceptions of others when arriving at
decisions and proposing solutions to problems/challenges.
Involve team in team decisions.
"Understanding human needs is half the job of meeting them."
(Adlai Stevenson, 1900-1965)

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7 elements of emotional intelligence
5. Influence – The ability to persuade others to change a viewpoint
based on the understanding of their position and the
recognition of the need to listen to this perspective and provide
a rationale for change.
6. Intuitiveness – Arriving at clear decisions using rational and
insightful perceptions of key issues and implications.
7. Conscientious – the ability to display clear commitment to a
course of action in the face of challenge and encourage others
to support the chosen direction. Personal commitment to
pursuing an ethical solution to a difficult issue or problem.
Having standards and a way of working e.g. practice principles.

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3. Creating a Culture
 Learning organisation.
 From blaming culture to learning culture.
 Effective working relationships.
 Working towards better outcomes for children and
families.
 Appreciative Inquiry.

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3. Creating a Culture
“Cultures can be distinguished from each other by the
differences in shared meanings they expect and
attribute to their environment. It is not a thing, but the
interaction of people. The difference in these
interactions leads to different relationships within a
group or organisation and determines the explicit
culture.”
Cranwell-ward et al
(2002)

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Team/group supervision - Valuing Difference
“…bringing together a rich mix of people, with differing
perspectives and from different backgrounds, and
creating an environment in which their differences are
valued. A vibrant, open and creative culture. A culture
in which ideas flourish, where people thrive, grow and
have fun. A culture where energy is unleashed.”
Schneider (2001)

Worries
Risk Statements
Team
Hypotheses/Reflections
Strengths
Supervision Tool- Safety in Partnership
ECOMAP/TIMELINE
Client Name: Ref No: DATE:
Purpose of
Supervision/Presenting
Dilemma
Complicating
Factors/Barriers
Next Steps
(Immediate Progress)
Safety/Protection
Required
Current
Ranking
•Detail re incident (s)
bringing the family to the
attention of the agency.
•Pattern / history
•Worries about ability to
work case.
•Condition / behaviours
that contribute to greater
difficulty for the social
worker/child/family.
•Presence of research
based risk Factors
•What is the worker /
team looking for in this
supervision?
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