Signs of Safety Evaluation

An evaluation by King’s College London, of the strengths-based Signs of Safety approach to child protection found it had improved social work practice but that there was little evidence that the model improved the quality of child protection assessments.

Signs of Safety is designed to integrate professional and family knowledge in the assessment of risk and any subsequent planning. It is based on honest relationships between the worker and families and between all professionals involved to achieve a shared understanding of what needs to change, and critical thinking to minimise error and create a culture of reflective practice.

Key findings include:

• Our conclusion is that, while SoS is not a magic bullet for the challenges that face children's social care, it has the potential to help improve services for children and young people
• They saw improved co-operation between social workers and families, enhanced the implementation of safety planning
• parents felt more satisfied with their contact with social workers
• social workers believed the approach made a positive difference to the lives of families
• There was little evidence that the approach had enhanced the quality of assessments, although the evaluation said this "was not a failure of Signs of Safety but of how it was interpreted by some social workers". 

See the full report here