Transforming Children`s Services with Signs of

Transcription

Transforming Children’s Services
with Signs of Safety Practice
at the Centre
Munro, Turnell & Murphy
and Partnering Local Authorities
Innovations Programme Proposal
August, 2014
CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary and Context
2. Signs of Safety Practice
3. Where Practice and Organisational Factors Collide — The Problems We Are Looking to Solve
4. Organisational Transformation — A Compelling Case
 The MTM Transformation Framework
o Structural arrangements
o Learning strategies
o Leadership imperatives
o Politics and staying the journey
 Organisational Consultancy
 Specific reforms on the continuum of children’s services
5. Theory of Change
6. Value for Money
7. Concurrent Engagement with Ofsted Inspection Framework
8. Information Management
 Reforming managerial oversight and quality assurance — developing meaningful measures
 Reforming information management in direct work
9. Action Research
10. Delivery, Scalability and Spread
 Delivering the bid — a unique mix of experience and skills
 Business model for scalability and spread
11. The Commitment of the Ten Partnering Local Authorities
12. Conclusion — Is This Project Innovative?
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Transforming Children’s Services with Signs of Safety Practice at the Centre
Munro, Turnell & Murphy and Partnering Local Authorities | Innovations Programme Proposal — August, 2014
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONTEXT
The Munro Review of English Child Protection Services [2011] concluded that the system had become
locked into a defensive compliance culture, underpinned by unnecessary and overly bureaucratic
procedures resulting in social workers spending less time working directly with children and families and
more time — up to *80% — feeding the system. Professional expertise had become eroded and social
workers found their role becoming progressively less clear. Her Review emphasised the need to redesign
services around children and families and create a culture of continuous learning. A central
recommendation was to draw on robust evidence that supported effective ways of working with children
and families and encourage workers to think critically and foster a stance of inquiry.
This proposal, at its heart, is to do with transforming children’s services with Signs of Safety at the centre.
It directly addresses the challenges identified in the Munro Review and, importantly, gives greater clarity
to the role of social work, as well as making it more accountable. The evidence strongly suggests that in
those jurisdictions where Signs of Safety has been adopted outcomes for children and families have
improved. Signs of Safety is based on a robust theory of change, has a strong evidence base, can have a
unifying impact across the whole system, supports more effective partnerships and is value for money.
Ten local authorities will work with MTM in this innovation project — Brent, Bristol, Leicestershire,
Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Tower Hamlets, Wakefield, West Sussex and Wokingham — a rich mix of
urban, rural, big city and London borough. There is corporate support for this proposal and the Chief
Executive and the Lead Member in each authority has signed a Letter of Commitment. For each local
authority the project will align policy and procedures within the Signs of Safety framework; identify their
specific information requirements as part of a quality assurance system to measure the impact of better
working with children and young people; build capacity to train the workforce in the new practice
method and develop an action research programme to evaluate the implementation of Signs of Safety and
the outcomes for children.
The implementation of Signs of Safety will be led by Munro, Turnell and Murphy (MTM) — three
internationally renowned experts in the field of child protection. They have in turn assembled an equally
strong team of trainers and information systems experts to support their work.
2. SIGNS OF SAFETY PRACTICE
Signs of Safety is an integrated framework for how to do children’s services work. It sets out the
principles for practice; the disciplines for practitioners’ application of the approach; provides a range of
tools for assessment and planning, decision making and engaging children and families; and describes the
processes through which the work is undertaken with families and children, including work with partner
agencies (Turnell and Murphy 2014, Turnell 2011). This practice returns child protection intervention to
being the catalyst that initiates behavior change by families.
Signs of Safety is now used in some 100 jurisdictions in 13 countries and has a strong evidence base (see
Value for Money section below). There are 41 authorities engaged with Signs of Safety in the United
Kingdom, including 38 in England.
The three principles address key challenges of the work:
1. Working relationships are paramount: to enable honest and respectful discussions of concerns and
worries. Research shows that, irrespective of the type of intervention, professionals see better
outcomes when they have a shared understanding with the family of what needs to change,
agreement on what they are aiming to achieve and the family feel an affective bond with the
worker.
2. Thinking critically: to minimize error a culture of shared reflective practice and a willingness to
admit you may be wrong is needed. Risk assessment is a core task and requires constant balancing
of the strengths and dangers in a family to avoid the common practice problems of drifting into an
overly negative or positive view of the family.
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3. Based on everyday experience: assessment and safety planning is grounded in the everyday lived
experience of the child.
The core assessment tool is the ‘Three Columns’, an easy to understand framework that is completed by
the worker, family and other key professionals exploring 4 key questions:
 What are we worried about?
 What’s working well?
 What needs to happen?
 Judgment, typically, on a scale of 0-10 considering how serious do the professionals, the family and
key people believe the situation is for the child?
The Three Columns assessment is illustrated below with all analysis categories.
Signsof Safety Assessment andPlanningFramework: SevenAnalysisCategories
What are youWorriedAbout?
What sWorkingWell?
Existing&Strengths:&
HARM:&
What NeedstoHappen?
SAFETY&GOALS:&
!
!
!
EXISTING&SAFETY:&
DANGER&STATEMENTS:&
!
Next&Steps:&
!
Complicating&Factors:&
!
0
© Resolutions Consultancy
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The ‘Three Houses’ tool is used to help workers learn from children what they think are the most
important things that are happening in their home and family. This echoes the Three Columns with ‘the
house of good things’, ‘the house of worries’ and ‘the house of wishes’. The case example below illustrates
the power of this tool in communicating the child’s lived experience.
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Having developed a detailed understanding of how the family is functioning and a shared agreement of
what needs to change, the next step is to undertake safety planning. This will usually involve families
calling on the wider family and their social network to provide active support, being the people who are
likely to play a more substantial and enduring part in the family’s life than professional interventions that
tend to be of short duration and short term. The aim is to create a proactive, structured and monitored
process that provides parents involved in child protection matters with a genuine opportunity to
demonstrate that they can provide care for their children in ways that satisfy the child protection service.
The safety plan is a specific set of rules and arrangements that describe how the family will go about and
live its everyday life that shows everyone, the professionals, and the family’s own support people how the
children will be safe in the future.
The ‘Words and Pictures’ tool is for grown-ups (usually the parents) to explain what is happening to
children and what is being done to make them
safe, as illustrated below.
3. WHERE PRACTICE AND ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS COLLIDE — THE PROBLEMS WE ARE
LOOKING TO SOLVE
To an outsider, the description of Signs of Safety given above might seem commonsense and we have
already reported that 38 authorities in the UK are already using it, so the question arises: what more is
needed?
The problem is that people are trying to fit this practice framework into organisations that have evolved
into the overly bureaucratic, defensive and compliance-driven places described in the Munro Review. We
surveyed 420 social workers in 12 UK authorities and they reported that the two ways of working do not
fit well together and that there are substantial inefficiencies as tasks are duplicated Many reported that
they received conflicting messages with priority still being given to complying with process so that it
seemed that lip service only was being given to higher quality work with families. Therefore Signs of
Safety is not being embedded into the foundations of the organization and so not realizing its full
potential. Indeed, it is vulnerable to withering away as front line workers find that they are not helped to
have sufficient time to work closely with families. The goal of this bid is to work with ten local authorities
to help them achieve whole system redesign that supports, effectively monitors and builds high quality
Signs of Safety based practice with families.
The project is greatly helped by the substantial changes made in April 2013 in government statutory
guidance that create more room for local adaptability and by the changes in the Ofsted inspection
framework that give greater attention to the quality of work being undertaken and the supporting
evidence that it is leading to better outcomes for children and young people. These relatively recent
changes create the conditions for radical change in local authorities.
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4. ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION — A COMPELLING CASE
Practice occurs within a multi-faceted context, reflecting both internally how the agency is structured and
externally how the agency is positioned within the wider service delivery environment. This network of
inter-relationships creates complexity that needs to be managed to support, rather than impede, front
line practice. Transforming child protection services involves continuously aligning these multiple and
interacting organisational arrangements and systems through persistent and agile leadership over time.
Child protection in England is at an important point. Munro dealt with the institutional blockages to
better child protection services. The MTM Transformation Framework offers an approach to child
protection work that deals with many of the practice, policy, systems and leadership impediments that
have undermined child protection services historically. Its relevance is that is has significance to the
wider England child protection system.
MTM, from their unique experience of reviewing, consulting and leading the implementation of Signs of
Safety world-wide are well placed to embed this framework to support the idea of continuous realignment and agile leadership at a local level. The framework is set out below.
MTM Transformation Framework
Structural arrangements
To start
 Project plan for implementing the practice framework (for multiple, preferably 5 years)
 Steering committee (or relevant governance arrangements)
 Child protection practice framework document
 Project director, team (desirable)
Over time
 Case practice guidance (policies and procedures) alignment with the practice framework
 Annual or biennial whole organisation practice framework implementation reviews and plans
 Annual local area or team practice framework implementation reviews and plans
 Staff surveys on the practice framework
Key parallel organisational reforms
 Strong front door (intake and assessment capacity)
 Formal partner agency engagement, with e.g. Local Children’s Safeguarding Boards, Police and
Family Courts as well as service agencies (protocol agreements, collaborative structural
arrangements, information sharing)
 Relevant operational measurement and reporting, and formal arrangements to access feedback
on how the organisation is functioning, including from families
 Continual streamlining of all policies and procedures (and client information collection)
Learning strategies
To start
 Basic training in the practice framework
 Practice leader / advanced training in the practice framework for supervisors and key natural
leaders
 Coaching for supervisors and other practice leaders
Over time
 Basic training in the practice framework being integrated into compulsory introductory training
 Practice leader / advanced training in the practice framework for all staff
 Practice skills formal training workshops
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Workplace based learning:
o Group sessions working with the practice framework on sample cases
o Appreciative inquiries (workers showcasing good case practice)
o Practice skills through coaching and mentoring and workshops
Aligning all formal learning pathways and opportunities with the practice framework
Supervision with an approach aligned to the practice framework
o Group supervision (teams working and reflecting on live cases)
Signal organisational learning events that showcase practice (desirable)
Dedicated organisational positions supporting case practice (desirable)
Dedicated local organisational positions supporting case practice (desirable)
Leadership imperatives
To start
 Strong, visible senior management engaged with the day to day experience of staff
 Stated organizational commitment to the practice framework
 Clarity and focus – on organizational direction, the practice framework, resolution of key issues
Over time
 Parallel process / organizational congruence with the practice framework – leading with a
questioning approach, promoting the principles and disciplines of the framework, and using an
aligned assessment and planning approach, across the organisation
 Fostering a safe organisation - building confidence that workers will be supported through
anxiety, contention and crises
o Anxiety is shared upwards and never carried alone
o If workers do their best within the organisation’s capacity, and they are frank and open but a
tragedy occurs, they will be fully backed up by the organization through to the chief executive
 Leadership that is demonstratively focused on practice
 Distributed leadership, “from the front counter to the chief executive”
The concept of becoming a learning organisation can encompass these interconnected structural
arrangements, learning strategies and leadership imperatives, and is a useful parallel commitment to
putting practice in the centre and the implementation of the practice framework.
Politics and staying the journey
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Building recognition with political leadership and partner agencies that tragedies and contention
are inherent in child protection
Building recognition that growing people and the organisation takes time
Building “capital” with political leadership and partner agencies through understanding of the
work, being credible and reliable, and demonstrating early and continuing good practice and
outcomes
National and international engagement with like agencies supports the transformation journey,
sharing resources, learning and research, and is protective during crises.
Organisational consultation
MTM will support the implementation of the transformation framework through monthly individual
consultancy to inspire, advise, and coach leaders and key staff. MTM will also provide ad hoc consultation
and specific policy alignment advice and the drafting of new documentation. There will be bi-monthly
workshops with all participating local authorities to address specific issues and to enhance shared
learning.
Specific reforms on the continuum of children’s services
Partnering local authorities have highlighted critical points on the continuum where substantial specific
reforms are required:
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Intake/First response – a simplified and single assessment and plan using the Signs of Safety
framework.
Continuum of service across early help, family support, child protection and looked after children
– using the common framework to allow for seamless transition and service provision.
Family group conferences and child protection conferences – integrating to be consistent with
Signs of Safety.
Public Law Outline – introduction of pre-hearing Signs of Safety conferences.
Further integration with other key services such as schools, health, police, youth services; and
with the Troubled Families project. Some participating authorities have commenced this work
and will provide learning for others.
Discussions with local authorities have also indicated points at which exemptions from central
government requirements might be necessary or advantageous. Any requests would apply only to the
authorities piloting specific reforms. These include:
 45 day single assessment requirement
 15 day point at which a child protection conference is required,
 Specific requirements on what constitutes a contact, notification and referral to children’s social
care.
5. THEORY OF CHANGE
The theory of change for the proposal is set out in appendix 1. It covers the Signs of Safety as a practice
approach and the MTM Transformation Framework as the vehicle for organisational change aligned to
the practice approach, to describe the path to fundamental and sustainable change in children’s services
practice, organization and outcomes. The results logic for Signs of Safety has been developed by the
Australian Centre for Child Protection (AACP), University of South Australia, in collaboration with
Andrew Turnell and is set out in Bromfield et al (2014). The theoretical basis for the MTM
Transformation Framework is reflected in an analysis of Western Australia’s implementation of Signs of
Safety and organizational transformation, on which the MTM Framework is substantially based, in
relation to the tenets of implementation science, also conducted by the AACP, and set out in Salveron et al
(2014). It also draws significantly on the theory of learning organisations (Senge 1990).
6. VALUE FOR MONEY
Any value for money discussion about children’s services needs to be framed within the context of cost
efficiencies being seen alongside improved outcomes for children. Cost efficiency also needs to recognise
both short and long term gains. The prime goal is to improve the safety and welfare of children and
young people. This is complicated to measure and requires a combination of data, e.g. reported physical
injuries, police visits to the house because of violence, re-referrals for maltreatment, evidence of
improved behaviour by e.g. teachers or nursery staff, self-reports from children and young people on
whether they feel safer or happier. Independent evaluation will be the prime mechanism for measuring
whether the goal has been achieved but the work in this proposal on improving quality assurance
methods will also contribute by improving local authorities’ ability to gain feedback as part of their
routine work.
Evidence from across jurisdictions where Signs of Safety has been applied systematically consistently
indicate the following core benefits:
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Families and children feel more empowered and are better able to understand the concerns and
requirements of child protection services – shared understandings of harm and risk lead to more
effective outcomes for children, less re-referrals and eventually reduced demand in the system.
Practitioners report greater job satisfaction and commitment to their work leading to improved
staff retention and reduced absenteeism – better staff morale, greater clarity about role and the
usefulness of the tools of Signs of Safety suggests more effective and better focused support is
provided to families.
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
The number of children removed from families reduces as the number of families being supported
intensively increases – as workers’ skills develop they have greater confidence to close cases and
feel more secure in an environment that supports high-risk work and avoids a culture of blame.
Specific findings across jurisdictions indicating improved outcomes for children and greater job
satisfaction for social workers with good potential for cost savings are set out in Turnell and Murphy
(2014) and Turnell (2011), and include:
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Swansea City Council implemented Signs of Safety in 2011. Two years data shows child protection
re-referrals reduced by 9% and children in care figures reduced by 13.6%.
The number of families receiving intensive help rose from 2.5% to 13% and in the same period
the number children being removed from home reduced by 24% in the initial years following
implementation of Signs of Safety [Western Australia].
The percentage of children removed from home dropped from 54% to 44% following
implementation of Signs of Safety in Bureau Jeugdzorg in Drenthe [The Netherlands].
Comparison was made of families at high risk of children and their children being removed in
separate authorities in Copenhagen – in families receiving Signs of Safety support 15% of children
were removed compared with 42% of those families receiving a ‘normal service’ [Denmark].
In Olmstead County fourteen years of data indicated the number children worked with tripled
while reducing by 50% the number taken into care and families taken to court following the
implementation of Signs of Safety [USA].
The number of children in care across Australia doubled in the years between 2000 –10 with
yearly increase of approximately 9.7%. In Western Australia with the implementation of Signs of
Safety the rate reduced to 5% between 2009 –13.
Aboriginal services in Calgary report that in the period 2011-14 caseloads fell from 1041 to 798;
children in care fell from 783 to 654; and children on supervision orders fell from 185 to 63
following the implementation of Signs of Safety [Canada].
The independent evaluation of Signs of Safety will identify whether the cost benefits described above can
be replicated in England generally. There is reason to be optimistic
7. CONCURRENT REFORM AND ENGAGEMENT WITH OFSTED INSPECTION FRAMEWORK
Ofsted’s role in sharing emergent and strong practice will be important in a new system that is beginning
to establish strong local arrangements in the absence of nationally prescribed rules. Regular evaluation
and shared learning of new developments is a rich resource that Ofsted will want to make available to
local authorities in supporting more effective services. MTM is already in discussions with the Deputy
Director [Social Care Inspection Development] about disseminating the learning that will occur in those
authorities using Signs of Safety and with inspectors about the tools they could expect to see in services
implementing Signs of Safety.
The specification of how the 87 criteria on the evaluation schedule of an Ofsted children’s services
inspection might align with Signs of Safety practice provides an opportunity for alignment at a conceptual
and practice level. MTM has been proactive in working with Ofsted to assist in this process of alignment
to achieve a broader application beyond the ten authorities involved in the bid.
The fact that Norfolk – one of the ten in this bid - is in ‘interventions measures’ is an opportunity to
demonstrate how Signs of Safety can be part of the solution in terms of improving staff morale; giving
greater clarity to social workers in supporting vulnerable children and in providing more effective
services. We have discussed this with Norfolk. Their commitment is undiminished and the project is an
important part of their recovery programme.
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8. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Using the Signs of Safety Practice Framework changes information management needs at both the front
line (for case management) and in management (for oversight and quality assurance).
Reforming managerial oversight and quality assurance — developing meaningful measures
Helping authorities reform their quality assurance systems is part of the MTM Transformational
Framework, specifying the need for developing ‘relevant operational measurement and reporting, and
formal arrangements to access feedback on how the organization is functioning, including from families’.
The Munro Review highlighted the problem that a quality assurance system primarily focused on
compliance has, over time, distorted practice away from a central focus on children and young people,
and had contributed to the demoralization of the workforce. This is an area where reform is crucial so
that managers are supporting and encouraging high quality Signs of Safety practice focused always on
children’s safety and welfare. Reform is also needed to meet the new Ofsted inspection framework that
asks more questions about the quality of work done and its effect on children and young people.
MTM will work with local authorities to co-create a set of practice measures and data collection methods
to form the basis for a new quality assurance system so that collecting and using feedback on the quality
of service being provided becomes embedded in organizational behavior. To be effective, meaningful
measures of output and outcome for organizational performance management cannot be developed as an
academic exercise but rather need to be developed through a structured learning process involving
multiple authorities and leadership teams.
The development of these new quality assurance measures will draw substantially on two key evidence
bases for Signs of Safety practice. First, the Signs of Safety fidelity measures research, in which local
authorities will participate in a current international study with MTM and Casey Family Programs (USA).
This will capture practical measures of the experience of parents, workers, supervisors and leadership. A
new study for organizational fidelity measures will also coincide with this project. Second, the Signs of
Safety theory of change provides essential guidance as to what constitutes fidelity.
Development of the system with local authorities and drawing on the Signs of Safety evidence bases will
enable this quality assurance system to provide real time outcome data for field staff, supervisors and
executive leaders to manage their part of the service.
Reforming information management in direct work
For those involved in direct work, Signs of Safety changes the type of information used, how it is collected
and the locations in which it is used. Using the tools means that a great deal of information gathering is
carried out in the family home using paper and pens to record as the discussion proceeds. This contrasts
radically with current conditions where being in an office entering data into the ICS software package has
become the major information management task. A better understanding of the information
management needs of Signs of Safety is required so that efforts can be made to align them with existing
processes better. In the longer term a fundamental re-design of information management technology will
be needed but this is beyond the scope of this project.
This work will be undertaken under the guidance of Professors David Wastell and Sue White who have
extensive knowledge of the current system and its defects. Research has shown that a user-centred
approach is very effective for developing radically different technological supports, with the emphasis on
shifting from bureaucratic form-filling to professional sense-making. ICS support for Signs of Safety is
currently very limited and goes no further than allowing forms to be uploaded into the document
repository of current ICS systems. This project will pursue three interlinked strands of work:
1. Developing a set of Apps for use on mobile devices to support key areas of Signs of Safety practice
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2. Integration of the output of these Apps (and other electronic output such as from whiteboards)
with existing ICS infrastructure will be explored in collaboration with our partners and interested
suppliers in order to develop ad hoc solutions
3. Foundational research, and open source project development, on design of an alternative to ICS
that was founded integrally on Signs of Safety.
All design work will follow a user-centred approach. A key part of this will be ethnographic observations
of social work practice particularly regarding the use of existing ICS systems. A User Group will be
established of experienced social work professionals from our partners who will guide the design process
of the Apps (strand 1), the adaptations of existing recording systems (strand 2) and the design of future
ICS support for Signs of Safety (strand 3). Central to this will be a series of workshops involving usercentred methods such as scenario-based design. The emphasis will be on usability in the context of front
line practice, supporting professionals working cooperatively with families in real time, rather than formfilling back at the office. It will also explore the possibility of integrating decision-support functions.
9. ACTION RESEARCH
The monitoring and evaluation of the reforms in this project are of fundamental importance. As we are
bringing this application to the Investment Board ahead of the appointment of the evaluation
coordinator, we understand that if this application is successful we will immediately begin work with
programme partners to develop high-quality evaluation plans with an appropriate evaluation partner,
and are eager to do so.
However, action research is also needed as we develop the strands of reform set out earlier to monitor
how they are being implemented and how they are fitting together. Having a set of ten local authorities
with which to work provides rich material for learning as the work progresses and we share lessons on
what has worked well or been problematic.
In conducting this research, we are greatly helped by the research developments in the international
Signs of Safety community and we, in turn, will contribute to that international effort to find robust ways
of monitoring the organizational implementation of Signs of Safety. The Theory of Change provides a
framework for studying implementation, drawing in particular on its account of the stages and the
drivers of implementation and organizational change. We have two research questions:
1. Is Signs of Safety being implemented?
Since the partner local authorities are at different stages in implementing Signs of Safety, we would
expect varied findings on this but the total set of findings will contribute a better understanding of the
nature and length of the journey to full implementation and of the obstacles or challenges that may be
encountered. Two sets of Fidelity Criteria surveys (features that must be present to demonstrate that
Signs of Safety is indeed being used) have been developed to date by Casey Family Programmes: a
survey of parents to provide a measure of the extent to which workers have achieved the constructive
engagement that is sought, and a questionnaire to be completed by supervisors that measures the
extent and the quality of workers’ use of the Signs of Safety framework. The bi-monthly meetings and
coaching sessions with all partner local authorities will be another source of information on progress
and obstacles.
There is a supplementary question in this area: is Signs of Safety being implemented by the partner
agencies in children’s services? Several local authorities are working, or planning to work, to embed
the Signs of Safety assessment framework across children’s services.
2. What organizational structures and systems best support good front line practice using Signs of
Safety?
Our reforms are seeking to change the obstacles produced by organisational structures and systems
so studying this is integral to the proposal. Any practice framework requires organizational
structures and systems that support that particular way of working so there can be no universally
‘right’ answer to this question irrespective of the nature of the practice. To illustrate, practice that
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incorporates a high degree of shared case management as Signs of Safety does, for instance, requires a
different method of workload management that the more traditional ‘individual with a caseload’.
There are several sources of material of relevance here. MTM’s Transformational Framework
incorporates learning from Western Australia and other jurisdictions on how organizational factors
help or hinder full implementation of Signs of Safety practice. The survey, mentioned earlier, of social
workers already using Signs of Safety provides another source for identifying the ways in which
organizational structures and systems can impede practice. The Munro Review also identified factors
that were driving the defensive, compliance culture and altering these is part of our reform work.
The study of the implementation process will also reveal evidence about what organizational factors
are associated with successful implementation.
Ethics approval will be sought from the LSE Research Ethics Committee and will involve close scrutiny of
the research plans.
10. DELIVERY, SCALABILITY AND SPREAD
Delivering the bid — a unique mix of experience and skills
Embedding Signs of Safety in the ten participating authorities is the first task. The main reason why
initiatives designed to improve children’s services have not fully succeeded is because they have a lacked
a whole systems perspective and failed to understand the essential need for alignment of policy, practice
and procedures within a culture of non-defensive learning. Front line practitioners cannot do this by
themselves. Leadership and ownership of the agenda for change is needed throughout the whole
organisation and must come from the top and be continuously reinforced by leaders. The quality and
effectiveness of child protection services is therefore everyone’s agenda. Who delivers this bid, not only
to the ten but to the wider sector is critical. Signs of Safety has not been delivered randomly across
territories and jurisdictions, but has been implemented by expert professionals, skilled and tested leaders
and respected academics with considerable expertise in the field of child protection. Signs of Safety is
delivered within a proven methodology and underpinned by a theory of change that is supported by
robust science. All these factors make Signs of Safety the powerful tool it is. The key people delivering this
bid are described below.
Eileen Munro is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and was a social worker for
many years. She has written extensively on how best to combine intuitive and analytic reasoning in risk
assessment and decision-making in child protection and her most acclaimed book Effective Child
Protection is now in its second edition. In 2011 Professor Munro completed the Munro Review of the
English Child
Protection System. The government accepted the recommendations in full and the review was met with
universal acclaim by the sector. The Review describes the limits of a policy of bureaucratic control and
prescription in the prevention and support of severe child abuse and argues for growing a system that
values and organizes around frontline professional expertise.
Eileen will lead on the evaluation, research, information management and quality assurance aspects of
the bid. These areas involve new ways of collecting and using data to form opinions about the impact of
services and are designed to better support staff in their work with families and children. These
innovatory approaches are entirely compatible with the recommendations in her Review and with logical
next steps to developing more meaningful measures whilst reducing unnecessary bureaucracy.
Dr Andrew Turnell is a child protection consultant from Australia and the principal architect of the
Signs of Safety approach to child protection casework. He teaches around the world and is a consultant to
child protection agencies in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Japan and North America. Andrew has
written extensively about safety-organised child protection practice. His most recent book is co-authored
with Susie Essex from Bristol: Working With ‘Denied’ Child Abuse: The Resolutions Approach. He is
currently co-authoring with Terry Murphy the third edition of the Signs of Safety – A Comprehensive
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Briefing Paper that has been regularly updated and forms the practice framework for integrating Signs of
Safety into children’s services work world-wide.
Andrew’s key role will be to oversee and supervise the effective implementation of Signs of Safety,
participate in training and undertake strategic work with leaders in creating both the value base and new
culture required to embed a radically different approach to child protection practice. He will also work
with Eileen on the evaluation, research, information management and quality assurance aspects of the
bid.
Terry Murphy was Director General of the Department for Child Protection and Family Support in
Western Australia from 2007 to 2014. He took the chief executive role following the department being
described as ‘overwhelmed, confused and defensive’ in a comprehensive government review. He led its
transformation from a failing service to an effective service and leading agency in the field of child
protection. He also has broad experience in health, in alcohol and drug services and has significant
experience in the strategic development and planning of services.
Terry’s role will overlap with Andrew’s. However, Terry’s distinct contribution is the ability to embed and
sustain new cultures and values in organisations that want to move forward but struggle in the
implementation of new ideas. Organisational resistance may need to be overcome and ‘political’ factions
may appear seeking to derail change. His experience in turning around a severely failing organisation and
understanding the central importance of dispersed leadership in managing whole system change is
invaluable.
Viv Hogg is a senior licensed Signs of Safety Trainer and Consultant for the UK. She is an experienced
social worker and has spent her entire career in child protection work. She has provided training and
consultation in the Signs of Safety to many UK local authority children’s services, in particular in
Gateshead where her extensive work there has been recognised internationally. She has also co-authored
a number of publications on Signs of Safety.
Viv’s main role will be in the recruitment and supervision of trainers and the quality assurance of training
practice to ensure consistency. She will also have a direct role in training. Her concern will be to ensure a
high level of competency in the application of Signs of Safety and to support embedding it in front
practice.
The trainers — in total fifteen trainers will be available to support the implementation of Signs of
Safety across the ten authorities. There is a good ability to scale up and down according to the needs of
the organisation. The trainers are qualified social workers and all have solid experience of child
protection work and training.
This bid is predicated on putting in place a team of significance strength that can function effectively and
with competence across the range of organisational levels – from politicians, chief executives and
directors of children’s services to front line staff and management tiers in between.
Business Model for Scalability And Spread
The project will develop and demonstrate an affordable business model for local authorities to achieve
fundamental and sustainable change in children’s services practice, organization and outcomes.
Implementing the Signs of Safety will mean that new authorities will, in the first instance, engage with
MTM and Resolutions Consultancy licensed Signs of Safety trainers and consultants to undertake core
Signs of Safety learning, bring the basic training in-house, and undertake aligned organisational reform to
sustain and grow the development of effective practice. In the medium term, these authorities will
maintain their transformation and, through the network of authorities implementing Signs of Safety in
England and the United Kingdom, and by staff working in authorities becoming licensed Signs of Safety
trainers and consultants, they will drive the transformation of the sector across England. The project will
achieve this through:
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




Participating local authorities completing core Signs of Safety learning and demonstrating transition
to internal provision of their ongoing basic Signs of Safety learning.
Participating local authorities demonstrating implementation of the MTM Transformation
Framework to align organisational reform and Signs of Safety practice.
Investing in MTM and Resolutions Consultancy to expand English expertise and capacity, increasing
from 5 to 14 the licensed trainers and consultants who will provide initial basic training and
continuing advanced learning and coaching, and building their skill and experience to provide
organisational consultancy in line with the MTM Transformation Framework.
Drawing from local authority staff to build the expanded licensed trainers and consultants capacity,
engaging part time trainers and consultants who continue to work in local authorities and support
other authorities in their regions.
MTM and Resolutions Consultancy building the England network of local authorities implementing
Signs of Safety, enhancing their capacity to sustain transformation and support other authorities’
transformation.
The other 28 local authorities currently implementing Signs of Safety to varying extents in England, and
the other 6 in the United Kingdom, are an immediate first line of scalability and spread. These authorities
currently meet annually in leadership workshops. These workshops will be held more frequently as the
project progresses and winds down, as one means of sustaining and growing the network of authorities.
The Signs of Safety Gathering in England in April 2014 also provided a strong example of practice
developments being promoted and spread and networks developed and strengthened between
authorities (the programme can be downloaded from http://www.signsofsafety.net/events/?ee=14).
MTM, Resolutions Consultancy and an enlarged group licensed trainers and consultants who have
positions within the children’s services sector are at the core of scalability and spead. Munro, Turnell and
Murphy bring unique experience and skill, in research, practice and leadership to the project. Signs of
Safety and the MTM Transformation Framework bring first class and arguably unparalleled methodology
to the project. Investing in building the capacity of the network of licensed trainers and consultants will
established English capacity to provide an affordable model for new local authorities to achieve
fundamental and sustainable change in children’s services practice, organization and outcomes.
Combining this development with the established national network of local authorities implementing
Signs of Safety will drive national system change and local authority reform across all England over the
coming years.
Additionally, the more usual methods of knowledge dissemination will also be driven by MTM and
participating local authorities - publications, workshops and conferences, as well as targeted publicity,
supported by the Department of Education’s innovations project service delivery partner – to promote
knowledge and adoption of innovative developments. On line, social media based dissemination and
development of a Community of Practice via the College of Social Work also offer significant
opportunities.
11. THE COMMITMENT OF THE TEN PARTNERING LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Discussions with all ten local authorities have taken place at the level of lead member, chief executive and
director of children's services. All are enthusiastic about joining the project and see Signs of Safety as a
strategic part of redesigning their child protection services. All have given their commitment by the Chief
Executive and lead member in writing. All local authorities have provided budget information indicating
planned spending for the Innovations Programme including matched new spending and other funding
supporting the project. These documents have been provided to the Innovations Programme coaches.
MTM will develop individual partnership agreements with each local authority participating in the
project at its commencement.
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14
12. CONCLUSION — IS THIS PROJECT INNOVATIVE?
The key innovatory aspect of this bid is the scale of change: whole system re-design around Signs of
Safety which provides theoretical and value foundations and tools for working with families to improve
the safety and welfare of their children. Several local authorities have implemented Signs of Safety for
frontline practice but, as their staff have told us, the rest of the organization has not changed to match it.
This means that they have not yet achieved the aim of the Munro Review of moving from a compliance to
a learning culture focused on how well they are serving children and young people. This project provides
a transformation framework that will bring into alignment the structures, policies, processes, learning
and leadership with Signs of Safety practice.
Signs of Safety is itself an innovative approach to practice which, while it is a mature approach, continues
to evolve through innovations created by workers using the approach around the world. Research from
other jurisdictions provides evidence that Signs of Safety will lead to better outcomes for children and
young people.
Working with Ofsted, we shall show how to meet the new Ofsted inspection framework and this will
strengthen senior managers’ and local politicians’ confidence in this way of working.
The transformation extends to working with other agencies. Some local authorities are already starting
to use Signs of Safety to replace the present Common Assessment Framework and their work and
learning will be disseminated to other authorities.
By working with several local authorities, we shall build momentum that will then be rolled out on a
wider scale. There are already 28 other authorities using Signs of Safety in England and several more
have expressed a wish to do so.
The development of Signs of Safety Apps and their integration with existing ICS software promises
significant savings while the project strand by Professor White studying the information needs of
practitioners and managers is innovatory and lays the foundation for a radical revision of how
information management is carried out.
The reform of information management will improve managerial oversight with new methods in quality
assurance, developed with the local authorities drawing on fidelity research and the theory of change,
with meaningful measures that offer 360 degree constant information from families, workers and
leadership.
Taken as a whole, this bid addresses many of the concerns and fragilities in the current child protection
system. It builds on the evidence of successful reforms elsewhere. Importantly, the reforms are located
within the context of a whole system design. As such, it represents a major and innovative step forward
in the improvement of child protection services, not only in the ten authorities involved but also with a
viable model for scalability and spread across the sector in England.
REFERENCES
Munro, E. (2011). Munro Review of Child Protection, Final Report: A child-centred system. London:
Department for Education.
Turnell, A. and Murphy, T. (2014) Signs of Safety — A Comprehensive Briefing Paper. Draft Third Edition.
Turnell, A. (2011) Signs of Safety — A Comprehensive Briefing Paper. Second Edition. Resolutions
Consultancy. www.signsofsafety.net
White, S., Wastell, D., Broadhurst, K., Peckover, S., Davey, D., & Pithouse, A. (2008). Living in the iron cage
of performance management: exit the street level bureaucrat, enter the good soldier Svejk?
Aarhus.
Wastell, D.G. (2011). Managers as designers in the public services: beyond techno-magic:. Triarchy Press.
Wastell, D. and White, S. (2014). Making sense of complex electronic documentation: socio-technical
design in social care. Applied Ergonomics, 45(2):143–9.
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Transforming Children`s Services with Signs of

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