Post on 13-Jul-2020
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Signs of Safety in Cheshire East Putting children and young people first
July 2017-2020
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Contents
1. What we want to achieve 2
2. What is Signs of Safety 4
How Signs of Safety was Developed 4
Principles of Signs of Safety 5
Ways of Working 5
Practice Tools 6
3. Evidence Base for Signs of Safety 9
4. Implementing Signs of Safety in Cheshire East 10
What we will do 10
Timescales 11
Governance 11
Support from the Signs of Safety Consultants, Trainers and Community 13
Support from Partners in Practice 13
5. How we will know if we are successful 14
Measuring Success 14
Reviewing our Progress 14
Appendix 15
Signs of Safety Implementation Plan 15
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1. What we want to achieve We want all our children and young people to be happy, healthy, and
safe, and to be able to live a life that is full of fun and opportunities to
learn and develop. Where possible, we want to support our children
and young people to remain with their families within a loving, caring,
safe and stable environment. When children are unable to remain in the
care of their families, we want to ensure they receive a permanent,
loving home as soon as possible.
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.
Children, young people, parents and carers have told us they want:
To be listened to
To be part of developing their plans, to understand what the
concerns are and why they need a plan
For professionals to be clear with them about what is going to,
or could happen
We want to always put children and young people first and foremost
in everything that we do. 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.
We have four priorities in Children’s Social Care, which Signs of Safety
will support us to achieve and embed:
1. We always put children and young people first
2. We understand what impact the situation is having on the child or
young person
3. We take action to make positive change a reality
4. We work with families to achieve long lasting change. Children and
young people get the right service for them at the right time
We believe that using Signs of Safety will support us to deliver high
quality practice, and through working together in partnership with
families we will be able to achieve strong and sustainable outcomes for
children, young people and their families, and empower our families
and our professionals.
Through adopting Signs of Safety, we aim to achieve:
The very best outcomes for children, young people and families
Child-focused services that put the needs of children and young
people first
Inclusive practice – families are supported to develop their own
solutions leading to empowered families and sustainable
outcomes
Empowered professionals – professionals across the partnership
feel confident in having difficult conversations with families, are
supported in their decision making, and see the impact of their
work on families, leading to robust partnership working and
increased job satisfaction and strong recruitment and retention
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As a result of using Signs of Safety, and delivering high quality
practice in partnership with families, we will expect to see:
fewer re-referrals, as we support families to be more
resilient, and develop their own solutions, which are tested
and shown to be sustainable within the family and their
support network.
more children safely remaining with their families
the right children coming into care
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.
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2. What is Signs of Safety? Signs of Safety is now widely recognised internationally as the
leading approach to child protection casework and has been
commended by Ofsted.
‘Signs of Safety’ is an innovative, solution-focused, strengths-based
approach to working with children, young people and families. 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 better outcomes for children and young people.
It includes:
principles for practice which underpin the work
ways of working – what to do, how and when
a range of tools to support engagement with families, strong
assessments and plans, and for capturing the voice of the child or
young person
ways to support learning, reflection and development, such as
supervision and audit of practice that is aligned with the approach
How Signs of Safety was developed Signs of Safety was developed in Western Australia in the 1990s by
Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards, drawing on solution-focused
therapy and the direct experiences of families and child protection
workers. Andrew and Steve worked with over 150 frontline practitioners
to develop and hone the approach, so it is based on what
practitioners know works well in real life cases. It is now being used
across the world.
Currently there are nearly 200 agencies in 15 countries undertaking
some form of implementation of the Signs of Safety. This includes
large-scale, long-term, system-wide implementations in Australia, New
Zealand, Japan, Europe, Canada, USA, and Cambodia.
Signs of Safety is now 23 years old. It is a mature and yet still evolving
professional approach. Signs of Safety has continued its commitment to
listening to practitioners’ experiences of what works for families, and
continues to evolve to incorporate innovations from practitioners in the
international Signs of Safety community. Although the roots of the
approach were within Child Protection, Signs of Safety is successfully
used across the continuum of need within early help and cared for
services, and is increasingly being adapted to a broader range of
services including youth justice and community health.
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Principles of Signs of Safety The approach has three principles:
1. Working relationships are paramount.
Relationships must enable honest and respectful discussions of
concerns and worries, draw on and honour everything positive,
consider multiple perspectives, and always incorporate skilful use of
authority. Research shows that, irrespective of the type of
intervention, professionals see better outcomes when there is shared
understanding of what needs to change, agreement on purpose and
goals, and family members feel their worker understands them.
2. Thinking critically and maintaining a stance of critical inquiry.
In order to minimise error, a culture of shared reflective practice and
a willingness to admit you may be wrong are vital. Risk assessment is
a core task and requires constant balancing of strengths and dangers
to avoid the common errors of drifting into an overly negative or
positive view of the situation.
3. Grounded in everyday experience.
Assessment and safety planning is always focused on the everyday
lived experience of the child. Service recipients and front line
practitioners are the key arbiters of whether practice works or
doesn’t.
Ways of Working
Research has shown that the best outcomes for children and young
people are achieved when there are constructive working
relationships between professionals and family members, and between
professionals themselves. This has been shown to be the case, both
nationally and internationally, at all levels of need and intervention.
In order to build effective relationships and work inclusively and
respectfully with families, Signs of Safety focuses on both the family’s
strengths and the safety of the child or young person. This recognises
that, despite current concerns and difficulties, all families have
strengths, and this gives the basis for understanding how we can
increase safety and address the areas of concern.
Signs of Safety practice makes a clear and rigorous distinction
between:
Past harm (what we know has happened), future danger (what we
are worried could happen given the past harm) and complicating
factors (the circumstances that lie behind the neglect or abuse,
commonly such as mental health issues, and drug and alcohol
abuse).
Strengths (positives about the family, such as their love for their
children) and protection (actual behaviours that demonstrate
capacity to protect the children, such as removing dangerous adults
from the household, or occasions when the parents felt as if they
could but did not harm the child/ young person).
This supports strong assessments and evidence-based judgements.
Assessment is always a work in progress (although this cannot
preclude taking action) and we need to continually evaluate what we
know in a dynamic way throughout the process.
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Signs of Safety values both professional and family knowledge. Work
with families within Signs of Safety fully involves families in assessing
risks and developing solutions. The child/ young person’s experience
is central to this, and children, young people, and their families are
fully involved in developing and delivering their plans.
Professionals take a facilitative role supporting families to explore,
recognise and respond to concerns, skilfully using authority to ensure
action is taken while honouring the strengths within the family and
offering choices about how we work together. Professionals take a
questioning approach – there is ‘more asking and less telling’.
In Signs of Safety, robust analysis of strengths and risks leads to plans
which focus on specific actions and behaviours that families must do
to create an environment in which their children will be safe and can
thrive - as opposed to just signalling what must stop.
Good communication is key to developing constructive relationships,
and Signs of Safety requires that clear and simple language is used so
everyone understands what the situation is and what we want to
achieve. Statements focus on specific observable behaviours,
avoiding meaning laden, imprecise and poorly understood labels and
diagnostic descriptors.
Practice Tools
Assessment and Planning Framework The assessment and planning framework is used for “mapping” the
worries, strengths, and required safety, all in plain language, and is
included overleaf.
The map has four areas for enquiry and exploration; the ‘three
columns’ (What are we worried about? What is working well? What
needs to happen?), and the scaling question. These are used to
explore and understand both the strengths and protective factors
within the family, and the concerns and risks, and make it clear what we
are working to achieve, and what needs to happen to get there. The
scaling questions is used to show how all parties judge the risk to the
child or young person, and supports understanding on the level of
concerns to be developed between all parties.
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Signs of Safety assessment and planning is adaptable across the
continuum of need, from early help to services for cared for children
and care leavers. Signs of Something - Adaptations of the Signs of
Safety across the Continuum of Service sets out how the adjustment
of the analysis categories of harm, danger, existing safety and safety
goals, enable the framework and the methodology to be applied in all
service settings.
Tools for Engaging with Children and
Young People Tools for engaging with children and young people
enable us to capture the child’s voice, and most
critically are used as a catalyst for change to the family.
The three houses/ wizards and fairies tool (good
things, worries or bad things, dreams) is a child’s
version of the three columns, and is used to capture
their experience.
Words and pictures explanations are used for
parents to explain what has happened and what is
happening to the child/ young person. Words and
pictures serve as both the explanation that children
and young people need to understand their situation,
and as a catalyst for change for families as through
giving the explanation they become accountable to
their children for what has happened and for working
to make things better.
Child-centred Safety Plans are safety plans that are presented in the
words and pictures format so it is clear for the child/ young person
what will happen, what they can expect from everyone, and what they
can do if they don’t feel safe.
Variations based on these core tools that have been developed by
practitioners to suit specific needs and cultural settings.
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3. Evidence Base for Signs of Safety There is a clear evidence base that shows that Signs of Safety is
effective and achieves better outcomes for children, young people and
families, and the approach has been commended by Ofsted. Qualitative
and quantitative evaluation and research, and data from organisations
which have already implemented Signs of Safety around the world,
have shown that it results in:
Better and more focused relationships with families
Families feel more empowered, and are more able to understand
and address the concerns of professionals
Practitioners are clearer on what the risks are, and what is
expected of all parties, resulting in better decision making for
families
A more individualised approach for families
Improved working between practitioners
Reduction in the number of children brought into care
Reduction in the time cases are open
Increased job satisfaction of the social work workforce
The evidence and theory base for Signs of Safety has developed
substantially within action research, collaborative and appreciative
inquiry, or broadly “practice based evidence”, and means the approach
is built from what is probably the strongest single knowledge base of
what works in actual child protection practice. More information on this
can be found at http://www.signsofsafety.net/signs-of-safety-
research/ and in the Signs of Safety Briefing Paper (4th Edition).
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4. Implementing Signs of Safety in
Cheshire East
What we will do
Signs of Safety is a way of working, an approach, it is how we will
practice; it is not just training, or using specific tools. Therefore fully
implementing Signs of Safety will require us to make a cultural shift in
how we practice and how we think about practice. It will affect all
aspects of our organisation and partnership safeguarding work.
Therefore, part of our implementation will be aligning our organisation
to the practice – ensuring that we have the right policies, procedures,
structures, support and tools in place to support best quality practice.
Our implementation plan covers the first two years of implementation,
when we will make significant changes to how we work and to our
supporting processes and structures. However, fully aligning our
organisation to the practice and embedding Signs of Safety as a culture
of practice will be a journey we will continue on well past the first two
years.
Truly effective implementation of Signs of Safety will only happen if we
have the full commitment from all partners across Cheshire East at all
levels, and so we will be ensuring that the Cheshire East Local
Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), the Children’s Social Care, Early
Help, and the partnership workforce are involved throughout our
implementation.
As a major change to how we work, we will need to be agile and
responsive to circumstances, seeking continuous feedback and learning
to inform our implementation. The views of children, young people,
parents and carers, our workforce, and our partners are critical to
informing how we develop our services and evaluating whether we are
achieving our aims, and these will be actively sought throughout our
implementation. We will also audit the quality of our practice to
understand the impact of Signs of Safety on our work.
Our implementation plan sets out what actions we will take to adopt
Signs of Safety within Cheshire East. This covers the following four areas
as shown in the diagram above:
Learning: this includes training our workforce to use Signs of Safety,
including two day training for social workers; advanced training for
all managers including senior leaders; and a two year development
programme for Practice Leaders. It also includes introducing ways to
learn from and reflect on practice; such as appreciative enquiries;
and individual and group supervision aligned to Signs of Safety.
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Leadership: this includes making a full organisational commitment
to Signs of Safety, with senior leaders being actively engaged with
practice; modelling the approach in management and leadership;
creating conditions for social work to thrive; and building shared
leadership at all levels of the organisation.
Organisational Alignment: ensuring practitioners are effectively
supported to achieve the best possible outcomes for children
through the having right policies, procedures, structures, support
and tools in place to support best quality Signs of Safety practice.
Ensuring that practitioners drive developments to services so that
the tools and support in place reflects what works for practitioners.
Meaningful Measures: We will align our audit and quality assurance
process with the Signs of Safety approach to ensure that what we
measure is what really matters to children, young people and
families, and drives improvements to practice. We will adopt an
inclusive model of auditing practice where audits are completed
with practitioners, recognising their strengths, and supporting them
to reflect on the quality of their work and identify areas they can
learn from and improve on in future work.
Progress against our plan will be reviewed quarterly by the Signs of
Safety Project Board to ensure we achieve our aims.
Timescales
As fully adopting and embedding Signs of Safety involves a culture
shift, full implementation is likely to take up to five years. Our
implementation plan covers the initial two year project period in which
we will make significant changes to our practice and organisation to
support this way of working. We will review and refresh this plan after
the first year to ensure we are taking the right action to successfully
embed Signs of Safety as our way of working.
Governance
Strategic direction and leadership for our implementation is provided
by the Signs of Safety Project Board. The Project Board is responsible
for developing the implementation plan and overseeing that the whole
of this plan is effectively delivered. It is directly responsible for
delivering the leadership and learning elements of the plan. Key
members of the LSCB are members of the Project Board to ensure that
Signs of Safety practice is led across the partnership. Dedicated support
to implementation is provided by a Project Manager, Project Support
Officer, and Signs of Safety Practice Lead for Cheshire East.
Three work streams report to the Project Board. These are shown in the
diagram overleaf. The Measuring what Matters work stream is
responsible for aligning our quality assurance processes with Signs of
Safety, and evaluating our progress in our implementation based on
feedback from audit of practice, families and practitioners.
The Policies, Procedures and the Child’s Record work stream is
responsible for aligning our organisation to the practice to ensure that
our structures, policies, guidance and child’s record system support best
Signs of Safety practice.
The Practice Champions Group is responsible for representing
practitioners’ views, troubleshooting issues, and developing practice
guidance and tools to support best practice. This group will ensure that
areas of best practice are shared and any issues are highlighted so that
these can be addressed swiftly.
The work of all these groups will be informed by the views of children,
young people and parents through existing engagement groups and
forums as they are the people who are best placed to know what works
for them.
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Project Board
Strategic direction and leadership
Measuring what Matters
Quality Assurance
Policies, Procedures and the Child's Record
Polices, Procedures, Practice Guidance, and the Child's Record System
Practice Champions
Practitioner Engagement
Leading organisational and culture change
to establish services that always put children
and young people first.
Consistently good outcomes for our
children and young people
A culture and organisation that always puts
children and young people first
Effective adoption of Signs of Safety
Ensuring what we measure is what really
matters, and informs how we improve
outcomes for children and young people.
Collaborative audit process that supports
learning and development
Meaningful performance measures
Feedback from families, practitioners and
partners is regularly sought and informs
service development
The effectiveness of our Signs of Safety
practice is closely monitored enabling us to
support practitioners to use the approach
Ensuring practitioners are effectively
supported to achieve the best possible
outcomes for children
Recording and processes are streamlined,
maximising time with families
Policies, procedures and guidance support
best practice and empower practitioners to
be creative and innovative
Practitioners drive developments to services
so that practice guidance, training, support
and tools reflect what works for
practitioners.
Good practice is celebrated and shared
Practice guidance, resources and tools
support best practice
Practitioner issues are acted on and resolved
Practitioners are supported by good quality
training
Governance for Signs of Safety Implementation
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Support from the Signs of Safety Consultants,
Trainers and Community
Our implementation will be supported by our Signs of Safety
Consultant, Agi Gault and Signs of Safety Trainer Haley Muir. Agi will
provide support, advice and guidance to support our implementation,
including delivering a formal learning and development programme for
our senior leaders.
Support will also be available from other local authorities (LAs) who
have adopted Signs of Safety and are part of the Signs of Safety
community. Cheshire East will be liaising with these LAs throughout our
implementation and will also attend Signs of Safety leadership and
national events to learn from innovations and developments within the
practice.
Support from Partners in
Practice
Cheshire East is very fortunate to be receiving support for our
implementation from North Yorkshire County Council through the
Department for Education’s (DfE) Partners in Practice Programme. North
Yorkshire has been using Signs of Safety for six years and has been
identified by the DfE as an example of good practice. A senior manager
in North Yorkshire has been identified as the key contact to provide
advice, support and guidance on our implementation.
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5. How we will know if we are successful
Measuring Success Ultimately we will evaluate our success against the difference we make
to the lives of our children and young people. We will use the following
sources to inform us on how well we are performing, what’s working
well, and where we need to take action to achieve change.
Qualitative Measures
We have a comprehensive audit programme in place. We will be
adopting an inclusive audit approach in line with Signs of Safety across
Children’s Social Care and Early Help, and the findings of these and our
LSCB multi-agency audits will be used to evaluate the quality of our
work and our implementation of Signs of Safety practice.
Performance Measures
Measures from our audits will be reported in a scorecard so we can
track our progress over time. Work will also be undertaken to ensure
our current scorecard reporting is focused on the areas that really
matter to children, young people and families in line with the Signs of
Safety quality assurance framework and these will be used to allow us
to evaluate the impact on outcomes.
Feedback from Families
Our mechanisms for gaining feedback from families will be reviewed
across services to identify any gaps and areas of good practice which
can be shared, and a systematic way of gaining feedback will be
developed in partnership with children, young people and families.
Feedback from Practitioners
Practitioners’ views will be sought through the Practice Champions
Group, the LSCB Safeguarding Children Operational Group, LSCB Board,
and staff and partner surveys.
Reviewing our Progress Progress against this Strategy and our plan will be monitored and
scrutinised on a quarterly basis by the Signs of Safety Project Board to
ensure we achieve our aims. Progress reports from each work stream
will be provided to the Project Board following each work stream
meeting.
The Project Board will also receive quarterly reports on the budget and
on training.
We will review and refresh our implementation plan after the first year
to ensure we are taking the right action to successfully embed Signs of
Safety as our way of working.
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Appendix:
Signs of Safety Implementation Plan
Strategic Direction and Leadership Task Lead Start Complete
Leadership
1.1
Obtain strategic buy in from partners at the LSCB in May and establish
partnership leads for the Project Board to lead and drive partnership
implementation
Head of Service: Children in
Need and Child Protection May 2017 May 2017
1.2
Recruit a Signs of Safety Practice Lead for Cheshire East to support Signs
of Safety implementation - to champion and lead practice, identify and
share best practice, and support Signs of Safety to embed within teams.
Practice Development
Manager and Project
Manager
June 2017 Sept 2017
1.3 All strategic leaders to attend the two day Signs of Safety training. Key
Heads of Service to attend the five day advanced training Project Board Nov 2017 Nov 2017
1.4 All leaders to walk the floor with newly implementing teams and engage
with practice, recognising strengths and areas of good practice Project Board Jan 2018
Throughout the
project
1.5
All leaders to model Signs of Safety through use of three columns for
strategic planning and strategies, and ‘nothing about us without us’
approach
Project Board Sept 2017 Throughout the
project
1.6 Leaders will continue to work to create conditions for social work to
thrive Project Board July 2017
Throughout the
project
1.7 Workshops to be held to develop Signs of Safety leadership for senior
leaders Signs of Safety Consultant Nov 2017
Throughout the
project
1.8 Good news stories and case studies to be celebrated and communicated
through newsletters and practice and performance workshops
Practice Development
Manager and Cheshire East
Signs of Safety Practice Lead
Dec 2017 Throughout the
project
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1.9 Create distributed leadership through identification and training of
Practice Leads across the organisation Project Board Nov 2017 Nov 2019
1.10 Engage in Signs of Safety leadership events to share and learn from best
practice Project Board Sept 2017 Dec 2019
1.11 Engage with other Signs of Safety local authorities and the Signs of
Safety community Project Manager June 2017
Throughout the
project
Communication
2.1 Produce regular SOS staff newsletters Project Manager July 2017 Throughout the
project
2.2 Give regular updates at Practice and Performance Workshops, CSC
Management meetings and Practice Champions Project Manager
September
2016 Quarterly
2.3 Communicate out to partners through newsletters and LSCB Sub groups
on the implementation of Signs of Safety in advance of the launch.
Project Manager and Partner
Leads Sept 2017 Dec 2017
2.4 Deliver briefings to schools through CEASH and ECAPH Head of Service: Children in
Need and Child Protection Sept 2017 Dec 2017
2.5 Formally launch SOS/ hold a launch event for SOS with staff and partners
in September Project Board July 2017 Sept 2017
2.6 Schedule regular project updates to key strategic groups Project Manager Sept 2017 Throughout the
project
2.7 Develop a page for SOS on the LSCB website with resources for partners Project Manager Sept 2017 Nov 2017
2.8
Produce a video of the Director of Children’s Social Care to introduce
SOS training and reinforce that we want practitioners to start using the
practice immediately
Project Manager and Senior
Communications Officer Sept 2017 Nov 2017
2.9 Celebrate good practice and good news stories through Team Voice Project Manager Sept 2017 Throughout the
project
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2.10 Hold a celebration of practice event on World Social Work Day in March
to celebrate good practice
Practice Development
Manager and Cheshire East
Signs of Safety Practice Lead
Jan 2017 March 2018
Training and Learning Task Lead Start Complete
3.1
Develop a plan for training roll out
- Identify teams to be trained
- Identify order of roll out
- Identify Practice Leads
- Identify in house trainers
Project Board July 2017 Oct 2017
3.2 Agree dates for training and arrange venues
Project Manager, Signs of
Safety Trainer and Business
Administrator
July 2017 Nov 2017
3.3 Develop an e-briefing for staff and partners as an introduction to Signs of
Safety Project Officer June 2017 Nov 2017
3.4 Develop feedback questionnaire for practitioners to evaluate training Project Officer Sept 2017 Nov 2017
3.5 Develop and circulate guidance on training to practitioners Project Manager and Signs of
Safety Trainer Sept 2017 Nov 2017
3.6 Deliver 2 day training to phase 1 senior managers, key partners and
Practice Leads Signs of Safety Trainer Nov 2017 Nov 2017
3.7 Identify two Cheshire East cases worked with Signs of Safety for use as
case examples within training
Project Board and Practice
Leads Nov 2017 Dec 2017
3.8 Align LSCB training with Signs of Safety LSCB Training Officer Nov 2017 March 2018
3.9 Deliver 2 day training to phase 2 CIN/CP teams and Early Help Signs of Safety Trainer Jan 2018 Feb 2018
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3.10 Deliver 5 day advanced training- first cohort Signs of Safety Consultant and
Trainer Feb 2018 Feb 2018
3.11 Develop guidance on expectations for practice leaders – roles and
responsibilities
Project Manager and Practice
Development Manager Jan 2018 Feb 2018
3.12 Deliver 2 day training to phase 3 Cared for teams Signs of Safety Trainer Feb 2018 March 2018
3.13 Deliver practice leads coaching sessions and training for in house trainers Signs of Safety Trainer March 2018 March 2020
3.14 Establish meetings for practice leads to share knowledge and good
practice SOS Practice Lead April 2018 March 2020
3.15 Practice workshops to be run by practice leads to enhance practitioners’
skills SOS Practice Lead May 2018 March 2020
3.16 Practice Leads to run SOS roadshows within partner organisations to
embed a joint approach and develop strong links and networks SOS Practice Lead May 2018 March 2020
3.17 Roll out group supervision within teams SOS Practice Lead March 2018 April 2018
3.18 Deliver 5 day advanced training- second cohort Signs of Safety Consultant and
Trainer April 2018 April 2018
3.19 Review what targeted training is needed for specialist groups/ areas of
practice Project Board March 2018 July 2018
3.20 Implement appreciation panels to celebrate and share good practice SOS Practice Lead May 2018 June 2018
3.21 Develop a plan for transfer of SOS training from external to in house Project Manager, Signs of
Safety Consultant and Trainer Sept 2018 Nov 2018
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Policies, Procedures and the Child’s Record Task Lead Start Complete
4.1
Prioritise elements of the child’s record system for review and alignment
with SOS
Before November 2017:
- Contact and referral – ChECS
- Contact and referral – Early Help Brokerage
- CAF assessment and plan
- C&F assessment, CIN plan and CP plan
- Strategy Discussions
Before February 2017:
- Cared for assessments and plans
Policies, Procedures and the
Child’s Record Work Stream May 2017 May 2018
4.2
Establish task and finish groups to review and refine elements of the
child’s record to make it more streamlined and aligned to SOS, test within
the system before formal launch with teams, and develop practice
guidance as appropriate.
Project Officer and Task and
Finish Group Leads May 2017 April 2018
4.3 Prioritise policies, procedures and guidance for review and development Policies, Procedures and the
Child’s Record Work Stream May 2017 May 2018
4.4 Create a short guide on how to align a document to SOS to support policy
development Project Manager May 2017 May 2017
4.5 Develop practice guidance to support the use of SOS tools Project Officer May 2017 Nov 2017
4.6 Produce a guide for clear communication – ‘jargon buster’ in partnership
with families
Practice Champions Task and
Finish Group May 2017 Jan 2018
4.7 Develop good practice examples of SOS work Practice Champions Nov 2017 March 2018
4.8 Develop family friendly guides to services and what to expect in
partnership with families
Practice Champions Task and
Finish Group Nov 2017 Jan 2018
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4.9 Develop use of CheSHARE as a portal to share SOS resources Practice Development
Manager Sept 2017 Dec 2017
4.10 Communicate updates to policies, procedures and forms through P&P
briefings and SOS newsletters Project Officer Sept 2017
Throughout the
project
Measuring what Matters
Task Lead Start Complete
5.1 Develop a Signs of Safety performance scorecard that reflects the impact
of our practice on children, young people and families
Business Intelligence
Manager Aug 2017 Dec 2017
5.2 Align performance reporting within LiquidLogic to SOS scorecard
measures
Business Intelligence
Manager Aug 2017 Jan 2018
5.3 Introduce SOS collaborative audit within Children’s Social Care Audit Officer Sept 2017 Nov 2017
5.4 Revise Children’s Social Care audit report in line with SOS principles –
simple language, strengths and worries
Audit Officer and Project
Officer Nov 2017 Dec 2017
5.5 Develop a audit tool, process and scorecard aligned with SOS collaborative
audit for early help and CAF
Head of Service: Prevention,
Service Manager: Family
Focus, and Locality Manager:
Cheshire East Family Service
South
Aug 2017 March 2018
5.6 Map how we currently engage families across our service to identify any
gaps and share best practice Project Manager July 2017 Sept 2017
5.7 Engage with families to develop ways to gather feedback on our services
and the impact of SOS on practice Project Manager Aug 2017 Dec 2017
5.8
Develop questions around key SOS outcomes to incorporate within the
annual social work staff survey, and carry out the staff survey to set a
baseline prior to SOS implementation
Project Manager June 2017 July 2017
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5.9 Annual social work staff survey to be repeated to evaluate impact on
culture and practice Project Manager June 2018 July 2018
5.10 Develop a mechanism for obtaining feedback from partners to evaluate
the impact of SOS on practice Project Manager Nov 2017 Jan 2018
5.11
Review how quality assurance information is fed back to teams and
partners, and develop clear communication pathways for all information,
looking to increase opportunities for celebration and reflection
Measuring What Matters
Work Stream Dec 2017 March 2018
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Your thoughts matter If you have any views on this Strategy or how we can improve our services,
please contact us at SignsofSafety@cheshireeast.gov.uk