“The Safety House: Involving Children in Safety Planning” is a practical tool designed to engage children in the process of safety planning within child protection systems. Developed by Sonja Parker, this resource aims to create a context for meaningful discussions with children about their safety and to gather their perspectives on measures needed to ensure their well-being.
Using the Safety House, child protection professionals collaborate with children to visually represent their understanding of safety. The child and the worker draw an outline of a house and explore specific safety arrangements that can prevent harm. The child’s views and ideas are recorded within the Safety House using pictures and words. Additionally, the child positions themselves along a “safety path” to indicate their assessment of current safety within their family.
This tool enables child protection professionals to achieve the following objectives:
- Facilitate discussions about safety and help children understand its meaning in their context.
- Identify significant relationships and involve key individuals in enhancing the child’s safety.
- Gather the child’s perspective on the necessary conditions for them to feel safe within their family.
- Enhance the child’s understanding of the safety planning process.
- Support children’s anxious feelings about reunification by envisioning what would make them feel safe in the future.
- Document the child’s safety plan to inform the overall safety plan developed with the family and safety network.
Contents:
- Involving Children in Safety Planning
- Elements of the Safety House
- Safety House Case Examples
- Fitting the Safety House into the overall safety planning process
- Process of using the Safety House tool
- Conclusions
- Safety House Template
- Safety House Prompt Sheet
FREE PDF DOWNLOAD OF THE SAFETY HOUSE: A CHILD PROTECTION TOOL FOR INVOLVING CHILDREN IN SAFETY PLANNING
