Signs of Safety in Cheshire East
Cheshire East is adopting Signs of Safety as our way of working with families because this will support us to achieve the type of service that children, young people, parents and carers have told us they want. Best practice is child-focused, solution-orientated, and respectful and inclusive of families, and this is what we want to achieve through adopting Signs of Safety.
Where Signs of Safety has been adopted by other local authorities it has been welcomed by families. Families have reported that (often for the first time) they are clear about what services expect from them. Families particularly like that their views and strengths are acknowledged as well as their weaknesses understood.
Signs of Safety is now widely recognised internationally as the leading approach to child protection casework. It provides a clear framework for how to do the work within children’s services; how to build relationships with families and work effectively with them to achieve strong outcomes for children and young people.
Signs of Safety will change the way we work so that we can involve families fully in decision making. It will affect:
- how we carry out assessments and how we create plans
- the types of questions we ask
- how we conduct meetings
- the language we use and how we explain what’s happening
You will be asked to talk about:
- What's working well
- What we're worried about
- How worried you are on a scale of 0-10
- What needs to happen
Our Signs of Safety Strategy (PDF, 1.99MB) sets out what using Signs of Safety involves, what we want to achieve through adopting Signs of Safety, and how we will do this in Cheshire East. There is a short summary (PDF, 704KB) of our Strategy, what we want to achieve for children and young people, and what role everyone has in making this a success which you can print off and display. If you would like this document in an accessible version then here is the short summary (PDF, 253KB) accessible version . Our journey to Signs of Safety Practice (PDF, 240KB) shows how we will change to become a Signs of Safety organisation.
Multi Agency Supervision
Group Supervision sessions (PDF, 198KB) have been established across Cheshire East Children's Services and these sessions are open to all agencies to attend so that everyone can benefit from sharing multi-agency perspectives.
Guidance on Using Signs of Safety
Go to the dedicated page of resources and Guidance on how to use Signs of Safety within early help and prevention, child in need and child protection, and services for cared for children and young people and care leavers.
Signs of Safety Training
The three different options for Signs of Safety training, dates and how to book are included below.
2 Day Training
Who is it aimed at? Practitioners who work directly with families, and their line managers
What does it cover? What Signs of Safety is, how to use it in practice, and tools for working together with children, young people and families. The two day covers similar content to the half day but goes into more detail on using the practice and includes practising applying the approach to live cases.
Dates 2019-20:
This training runs from 9.30am - 4.30pm each day
- Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th July 2019 - Wilmslow
- Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th August 2019 Wilmslow
- Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th September 2019 – Wilmslow
- Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October 2019 – Crewe
- Thursday 7th and Friday 8th November 2019 – Macclesfield
- Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th December 2019 – Wilmslow
- Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th January 2020 – Wilmslow
- Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th February 2020 – Wilmslow
- Thursday 5th and Friday 6th March 2020 - Crewe
To book your place: please complete this booking form https://form.cheshireeast.gov.uk/service/LSCB_training_booking_2019_20
Any queries please contact LSCBTrainingAdministrator@cheshireeast.gov.uk
Half Day Training - New dates added for 2019
Who is it aimed at? Anyone who works with families and needs to know about Signs of Safety and what it involves.
What does it cover? What Signs of Safety is, how to use it in practice, and tools for working together with children, young people and families. The half day course is a concise version of the 2 day course.
Dates:
- 30th September 2019, 9.30am - 1pm, Westfields, CS1, 2 and 3
- 6th November 2019, 9.30am - 1pm, Westfields, CS1, 2 and 3
To book your place: Please email SignsofSafety@cheshireeast.gov.uk with the date you would like to book onto.
Any queries please contact the email address above or contact Rebekka Wilson at 01270 685962.
E-learning
Who is it aimed at? Anyone who needs to know about Signs of Safety and what it involves.
What does it cover? An introduction to Signs of Safety; what it is, what the approach involves, and the key tools.
To access the e-learning please click the links below:
For partners including schools:
http://cheshireeast.learningpool.com/totara/dashboard/index.php?id=5
For Cheshire East Council staff:
http://cheshireeast.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=388
What Children, Young People, Parents and Carers think about our support
Families are the experts on what helps and supports them, which is why we carried out our Family Survey in May and June. We wanted to know how well we are supporting the families we work with so that we can improve how we work in the future.
Most families were pleased with the support and help they were getting; families felt listened to, understood why services were involved, and what they were trying to achieve.
What children, young people, parents and carers thought of our services, and what we will do to continue to improve, is summarised in our in one page summary (PDF, 233KB). If you would like more detail about the survey and the results, you can see the full Family Survey Report (PDF, 779KB).
Want to find out more?
Please see our Newsletters:
And our