Develop a Framework for Participants to Assess Safety

Assessing Safety – Lesson Plan

Intention

Develop a framework for participants to assess safety.

Enduring Understandings

Developing a structured way in which to assess safety in a case reduces bias and at times opens avenues for case resolution that at first appearances seem unlikely.
Safety is fundamentally a function of identifying threats, determining the youth’s vulnerability to those threats, and then balancing the threats to which the youth is vulnerable against the available protective measures.
The safety framework may be used to explore possibilities in a case, to educate clients and other professionals, and ass a framework for advocacy both in and out of court.

Brief Timeline (50 min. total)

Safety overview - 20 min.

Threat / no threat - 10 min

Differentiating case plan & safety plan - 10 min.

Using tool to assess Marco - 10 minutes

Detailed Description of Segments

Safety overview - 20 minutes

Provide an introduction to the Safety Model by using the Safety model PowerPoint slides.

Overview: There are a variety of ways to measure and assess safety in child welfare. It is important for you to understand howsafety is assessed by the agency responsible for child welfare in your state. One national model for examining the issue of child safety is that of Lund Renne (2009). This model is composed of three components: Threats, vulnerabilities, and protective capacities. The model requires identification of threats to the child, a determination of whether the child is vulnerable, and an assessment of protective capacities to mitigate threats. The model is designed as a way of structuring your thinking around safety to make sure all important factors are considered. If there are insufficient protective capacities to protect a child from threats to which the child is vulnerable, then the child is not safe. This model may be used to assess a biological parent’s home, a potential relative placement, or even a foster home.

Threats: Ask participants “Is this climber “safe”?” Why or why not? Participants will have a variety of answers. What should become clear is that rather than being an objective term, “safety” is a complex concept. Whether this climber is safe may depend on whether he is properly trained, has appropriate equipment, as well as external factors such as the weather. There is no definitive “safety calculus” that works in every case. Now ask the participants to identify “threats” to this climber. A threat is a risk which is specific, can be observed or described, is out of control, has immediate or imminent impact, and will result in severe negative consequences to the child’s health or wellbeing. When identifying threats to the climber, participants may come up with responses such as “gravity, falling, getting a sun burn, etc.” The idea here is not to decide whether the climber is “safe”, but rather to simply make a list of the safety threats the climber faces – whether the climber is actually safe or not, will depend not only on the threats, but also on the climber’s vulnerability and the presence of protective factors. By focusing our attention only on threats and withholding our judgment as to whether there is vulnerability of protective factors, we can more clearly articulate the actual safety threats.

Vulnerability: Ask the participants if they can identify a threat in this picture. The answer they likely will come to is “it depends”. It depends on whether there is a car coming around the corner, whether you have shelter form what appears to be an impending storm, or whether you are the rock climber from the last slide clinging to the side of a rock as the storm rolls in. The point is, just because there is a threat does not automatically make one vulnerable. Vulnerability may be because of age, lack of protective capacities, or other factors. Ask participants if they can think of situations in child welfare cases where an identified threat may pose a vulnerability for one child, but not another. The classic example here is a swimming pool – huge vulnerability for a toddler, but little vulnerability for the 17 year old life guard.

Protective Factors: Ask participants to identify what “protective factors” might be present for the climber. Answers might include a rope, skill, other climbers to help, etc. Protective factors are those things which help to ameliorate risks which are present in a situation. They may be physical, cognitive, behavioral, or emotional assets. They may be found in the youth, parents, or others involved in the situation. All adults in home should be assessed for protective capacities. Fundamentally, we should be asking “who or what can help in this situation to minimize or eliminate the child’s vulnerability”? If adequate protective factors can be identified, they may become “reasonable efforts” to prevent removal of the child. Even if a child has already been removed from a home, identifying protective factors which can readily be put into place may expedite a return of the child in some cases.

Plan: A child is “safe” if there are no threats to which they are vulnerable or if there are sufficient protective capacities present to protect the child from threats to which they are vulnerable. Determining whether a child is safe and whether they should be removed from the situation are two separate issues. Even if the child is unsafe, consideration should be given to the feasibility of removing the danger rather than removing the child the child. The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, generally requires the state to provide reasonable efforts to prevent removal of a child from the home and also to provide reasonable efforts to rectify conditions that caused removal. It is important to remember that a safety plan is NOT case plan. Whereas the case plan may have broader goals and objectives focusing on the family’s long term well-being, the safety plan should be focused specifically on the presence of safety threats to which the child is vulnerable, and how they will be addressed including who will be responsible for implementing each provision in the plan, and how the progress on the plan will be evaluated.

Timing: Ask participants: “ When is a good time to review a safety plan?” You may get a wide range of answers, but in particular, it is important to review safety plans when a child is in a new placement or when the conditions in the placement have substantially changed. At a minimum, child safety should be considered at every review. If the child is placed out of the home and wishes to return, the first question to be asked by every advocate reviewing the file should be “Why can’t this child go home?” Using the safety framework provides a structured way to answer this question. It is important to remember that compliance with the safety plan and completion of case plan are not the same thing. Whether or not the child should return home is a safety decision which can be determined by carefully considering the elements of the safety model. Whether or not a parent is fully complying with a case plan may or may not bear on safety.

Threat / no threat: 10 minutes

The purpose of this exercise is to help participants practice identifying threats in a case scenario. Most participants will attempt to immediately jump to concluding whether the child is “safe”. For this exercise it is important to simply identify whether there is a threat. Disciplining thinking in this way helps us to keep form jumping to conclusions or allowing unjustified bias to enter into our decision making progress.

Designate one side of the room as the place where people go to vote for “threat” and the other side to represent “no threat”. Tell participants that as you read scenarios, you would like them to “vote” whether or not a threat is present in the scenario by physically moving to the side of the room that matches their opinion. Once participants move to their respective side of the room, ask for volunteers to explain why this is or is not a threat. Remind participants as necessary that it is important not to jump to a conclusion of whether or not the child is safe or could be made safe. This exercise is simply to discipline ourselves to identify and articulate threats which are observed or described, out of control, have immediate or imminent impact, and will result in severe negative consequences to the child’s health or wellbeing. There is room for disagreement on some ofthese assessments, but the important part of this exercise is demonstrating an ability to apply the definition of what a threat is to specific situations without jumping ahead to a final determination of safety.

Threat / no threat scenarios are as follows:

16 year old Margo is left at home alone in the evening while her mother works the night shift. (No threat )
7 year old Lily lives in a home that is extremely “dirty” – garbage has not been taken out in weeks, rotting food on the counter, cat feces on rug, many exits blocked with “junk”. (Threat)
Mother is arrested for dealing methamphetamine out of home. (Threat)
Police have arrested mother’s boyfriend on numerous occasions for Domestic Violence. Mother has had to go to the hospital on at least one occasion for stitches as a result of an incident the child witnessed. Mother is currently at DV shelter with child. (No threat)
Mother is “chronic alcoholic” and often drinks to the point of passing out while attending 5 year old son. No other caregivers are in the home when this occurs. (Threat)
14 year old son has announced to family that he is “Gay” parents often refer to him in extremely negative terms and have isolated him from the rest of the family (i.e. separate sleeping, eating, and no contact with siblings) until he can be “cured”. (Threat)
7 year old child is in a home which regularly only has peanut butter, bread, and Top Ramen to eat. (No threat)
Mother indicates her 16 year old daughter is out of control because she repeatedly sneaks out of the house at night to go with 19 year old boyfriend. She is requesting placement. (Threat)
Mother has called concerned because father intends to give “boxing lessons” in back yard to 7 year old boy who is being bullied at school. Mother reports last time father did this, child had 2 black eyes and stitched lip. (Threat)
Father of 17 year old girl has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing her. He has been released with a no contact order. Mother has indicated she will not let father back into home with daughter. (No threat)
8 year old child is sent to office at school for fighting. Child seems extremely fearful to call home as directed by principle because he says he will “get a whoopin’” (Threat)

Case plans vs. Safety plans- 10 minutes

Using a 1-2-4-All format, ask participants to explore the difference between a safety plan and a case plan including how you might create each, what kinds of things they would contain, and who is responsible for creating and implementing them.

Assessing Marco’s case - 10 minutes

In groups of four, ask participants to use the “Safety Assessment Worksheet” in Marco’s case. The Worksheet may be used as a tool to guide practitioners in gathering the information necessary to make a decision regarding child safety. Discuss results. [TJF1]

Safety Assessment:

Key questions for gathering information[1]

Who do I need information from?

What is the nature and extent of the alleged maltreatment?

What are the circumstances surrounding the maltreatment?

How does the child function on a daily basis?

How is the child disciplined in the home?

What are the overall parenting practices like in the home?

How are the parents functioning outside their role as parent?

What efforts have been made to reduce or eliminate threats pursuant to 42 USC §§ 621 et. seq., O.C.G.A. §15-11-58(a),

CPS Manual § 2102.3; and FC manual § §1066, 1007?

Threats:

Specific, observable, out of control,

immediate or imminent, and severe

Vulnerability:

Is this child vulnerable to this threat?

Protective factors:

Behavioral, cognitive,

and emotional characteristics

______

Safe = no threats, child is not vulnerable to threat, or there is sufficient protective capacity to manage

Not safe = threats exist to which child is vulnerable,

and parents have insufficient protective capacity

Materials

- Safety framework PowerPoint

-Safety assessment handout for each participant

-Marco case video