1. Heather Meitner & John Vogel Massachusetts Action Learning Group Building Safety & Support Networks with Families UC Davis Webinar January 19, 2011

2. Building Safety Networks It’s very easy to believe people don’t have extended networks and won’t be willing to inform more people about what is going on. At the same time, asking about formal and informal networks, and with some skillful use of coercion, family and community can become members of an expanded safety network to help move closer to a bottom line of enhanced safety for children.

3. Building Safety Networks CPS involvement in the family’s life is TEMPORARY. The network of PERMANENT support people implement the safety plan! Finding out who the family has already told about their CPS involvement & building on it is important right from the start of our work.

4. Family Safety Circles Tool People who don’t know anything at all People who know a little bit People who know most things CHILD Building a Safety Network Who can help to keep the child safe? 1.Paternal Grandmother 2.Sister 3.Next door neighbor 4.Best friend 5.Aunt 6.Work friend

5. Emergence: Change starts slow and subtly—it is evolutionary rather than revolutionary Why do networks form? What are the conditions that support their creation? What keeps a network alive and growing? What keeps members connected? What type of leadership is required? What is the role of a CPS social worker in facilitating networks? What happens after a healthy network forms? What’s next?

6. Facilitated Process Build shared meaning and purpose Develop new behaviors and norms New behaviors eventually become habit Plan for accountability with in the network

7. Nuts & Bolts of Safety Circles Use Use the family safety circles tool on the very first visit with a family when talking about the need for us to work together to build a safety plan to address the concerns Emphasize the importance of having a safety network, of family and friends and involved professionals, who will work with us to develop the safety plan to ensure that the children will always be safe in the family’s care in the future. Parents/caregivers often say they do not have people in their lives who can be part of a safety network, either because they have ended their friendships with their old drug-using buddies or they have moved to a new area to get away from their old drug friends, or because their family relationships have broken down over the years and they no longer have contact with any of their extended family. This is when you can introduce the Family Safety Circles tool.

8. Intro Script “For us to be confident that the things that we are worried about aren’t going to happen to the children in the future, we need to know that there will be a safety network for the children; a group of people who see the children often and who will be part of the process of working with you and with us to develop a safety plan that will show everyone that the things we are worried about are not going to happen to the children in the future. You know that old saying that it takes a village to raise a child? Well the safety network is a bit like that village. We need to know that it’s not just you and the kids on your own and that once child protection services walk away, that there will be a group of people who will be part of the children’s lives and will help you to make sure that the children will always be safe in relation to the things we are worried about.”

9. Stages of a Dialogue OPEN : Brainstorming to gather a broad, wide-open set of responses-Seek understanding NARROW : Focused inquiry to provide clarity and details: Seek agreement CLOSE: Understanding and agreement of a plan of action

10. OPEN

11. The Inner Circle ASK: “Who are the people in your life and your child’s life who already know about what has happened that led to your child/children being in care (or to child protection services being involved with your family)?” As the parents/caregivers identify people who know what has happened, the names of these people are written into the inner circle (leave a little space right in the middle to come back to later and put the children’s and parents’ names or pictures).

12. Giving Compliments As soon as the parents/caregivers identify one name, you have the opportunity to compliment parents for the openness and courage they have shown in talking openly with people about what has happened. Example: “I imagine that might have been difficult to tell your Mom about what happened. How did you manage to do that/find the courage to do that?” or “You told all these people about what has happened. Wow, that can’t have been easy. How did you manage to do that?”

13. The Middle Circle ASK: “Who are the people in your life and the kids’ lives who know a little bit about what has happened; who don’t know the whole story but maybe know some of what has happened? Or maybe they know that something has happened but don’t know any of the details?” So then in the middle (second) circle, we write the names of those people who know a little bit or some of what has happened. Again, you can give further compliments to the parents/caregivers as more people are identified.

14. The Outer Circle ASK: “Who are the people in your life and your children’s lives who don’t know anything about what has happened?” As these people are identified, their names are written into the outermost (third) circle.

15. NARROW

16. Moving People from One Circle to Another If there are not already sufficient/appropriate people in the inner circle (who meet the criteria of already knowing what has happened), the next part of the process is to explore who the parents/caregivers are willing to move from the outer two circles into the inner circle. “Remember I said at the beginning that people in the safety network would need to know about what has happened in the past, well you’ve already got these people in this inner circle who you’ve been willing to talk to about what has happened, so you’ve already got these people as possible people for the safety network. So now we need to make sure we have enough people in this inner circle and the right people in this inner circle for the children’s safety network.”

17. Moving People from One Circle to Another “Who else from these outer circles do you think needs to be part of this inner circle?” “Is there anyone in these two outer circles who you have thought about telling or come close to telling, but you haven’t quite gotten there yet?” “Who would Grandma (for example - pick a person already in the inner circle) say needs to be in this inner circle with her?” “Who would the kids want to have in this inner circle?” “You know all of these people, I don’t know them yet, but who do you think I would want to have in this inner circle?” “Who of all of these people do you feel most comfortable with/most understood by and think would be important to have as part of the safety network?”

18. How many people do we need in the Network? There is no one definitive required number for the safety network that applies to every family situation. The number of people needed for the safety network needs to be determined based on the seriousness and nature of the concerns, the age and vulnerability of the children, and the availability of the other safety network people. We need to know that there are enough people in the safety network to be able to meet the day-to-day arrangements required in the safety plan.

19. Talking about what we mean by ‘safety’ people Introduce the idea of assessing whether or not someone is a ‘safe’ person by asking questions such as: “If you suddenly got sick and had to go into hospital, which of the people in this inner circle would you be prepared to leave your kids with?” “Who do you think your children would be willing/feel safe staying with?” “If grandma (or one of the other people in the inner circle) was here looking at the people in this inner circle, who would she say she was happy for her grandkids to be left with?” “I haven’t met any of these people yet but they are all people that you know, so who do you think I would be happy to have the kids staying with?”

20. Circle the ‘safe’ people The information provided by the parents/ caregivers in response to these questions can be represented visually by doing things like putting a circle around the names of the people who are identified as ‘safe’ people (you could use one color for Mom’s views, for example, and a different color for who Mom thinks others would nominate as ‘safe’ people) and question marks or crosses put through those people who have been identified as potentially ‘unsafe’ people.

21. What do people need to know to be part of the safety network? ASK: “You said that these are the people who know everything about what has happened. Can we now talk about what it is that they actually know? What have you told them?” A bottom line for the safety network is that people in the safety network need to know child protection services’ views about what has happened to the children in the past and to understand the worries that professionals have about what might happen to the children in the future in the parents’ care.

22. How do we ensure that everyone is informed? The parents/caregivers can take responsibility for talking this information through with all the potential people for the safety network prior to the first safety network meeting. If this happens, it is important that child protection services go over this information at the safety network meeting to make sure that everyone is clear about CPS’ views.

23. CLOSE

24. What does the Safety Network have to do? At a minimum, we would expect the safety network to: Listen to CPS’ views about what has happened to the children in the past and the worries about future dangers for the children that the safety plan needs to address. Come to meetings with the parents/child protection services to develop the detailed safety plan that will demonstrate to everyone that the children will always be safe in relation to these identified dangers. The number of meetings could be as few as one or two or could be as many as a dozen, depending on the complexity of the situation.

25. What does the Safety Network have to do? Continue working with the family and CPS to monitor how the safety plan is working. This if usually for a period of somewhere between 6 months and 2 years, depending on how long CPS would need to see the safety plan in place and working for them to be confident that the plan will continue working once CPS close the case. Continue supporting the family to ensure the safety and well- being of the children for as long as the children remain vulnerable to the identified dangers. CPS will need to have the conversation about how long the safety network will need to be actively involved for with the family and the safety network prior to CPS closing the case.

26. Case Example

27. Julianna (25 yr)— Mother Levi and Julianna are married with two children. They have been married for 5 years and have lived in the same apartment for this time. They live in the inner city. Levi grew up in New York, where most of his family still resides. Julianna grew up in this neighborhood. Her parents moved to Wisconsin after she graduated high school, but they maintain an apartment in Julianna’s neighborhood and spend a few months at a time there. The family has no prior involvement with CPS. Currently the children are placed in two separate non-kinship foster homes and Levi has moved out of the house and is living with a friend. Julianna and Levi are not certain about the future of their marriage. Levi (25 yr)— Father George (4 yr)— Son Katie (1 yr)— Daughter Who are we talking about?

28. Why is CPS involved with Julianna and Levi? On 3/24, Julianna and Levi took Katie to the ER because she was screaming and vomiting controllably. Levi described Katie has going limp and turning blue. Both parents told the doctor that Katie has been a very difficult baby and that she won’t sleep and cries constantly, but now things seem much worse. ER tests confirmed that Katie had the “classic signs” of Shaken Baby Syndrome—She had retinal bleeding, subdural hematoma, and seizures. Katie required emergency surgery due to bleeding on her brain. Both Julianna and Levi denied knowing how Katie was hurt. Julianna was at work and Levi picked-up Katie from a baby sitter. Hours later, Levi noticed that Katie was sick. He called Julianna and they both rushed Katie to the ER. CPS was called and 4 month old Katie and her 4 year old brother, George, were placed in foster care. Both have been in foster care for the past 6 months.

29.  Currently, Levi has moved out of the family’s apartment hoping that this will convince CPS to return the children to Julianna. He is living with a friend near-by.  Levi and Julianna each have supervised visits with the children.  Julianna’s parents came from Wisconsin and are now staying indefinitely to support Julianna.  Currently, Katie has recovered almost completely. She still needs regular medical checks of her progress and to assess her eyesight. George is healthy, but his behavior in the foster home is getting difficult.  The family, social worker, supervisor and family supports have met three times to share in safety mapping towards a plan for reunification. Understanding about the severity of the injuries to Katie was achieved with both parents able to describe the worries that CPS has for Katie and George. Agreement about what needs to happen focused on the involvement of a Safety Network, how to identify the members of the network and how to engage their help to promote safety for the children.

30. Safety Mapping What are the worries? Danger Statement: CPS is worried that 4 month old, Katie, was the victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome as confirmed by ER doctors. Katie was badly hurt with bleeding in her eyes, bruising of her brain, and bleeding on her brain. Katie needed emergency surgery to save her life. CPS is worried because Julianna and Levi are not able to describe how Katie was hurt. Without a plausible alternative cause of the injuries to Katie, CPS is worried that she was physically shaken by a caregiver and that this could happen again. CPS was so worried about the harm to Katie that both Katie and George were placed in foster care.

31. Safety Mapping What Works Well? Safety Goals: CPS wants to be satisfied that Julianna and Levi are able to demonstrate actions that protect the children in order to return them home. CPS wants to make sure that Julianna and Levi have a strong and permanent network of people to support them and that the network members agree to act to help the parents insure that the children are protected.

32. Safety Goals: Julianna and Levi need help with three things which are vital to protecting Katie from future harm: The stress of a colicky baby: Katie has always been a difficult baby to sooth and she sleeps erratically and scream-cries for long periods. Julianna and Levi both need to demonstrate actions which help lessen their stress, frustration and exhaustion they experience while caring for Katie. They can use their Safety Network for this support and help. Supervision/Co-parenting: Given that CPS does not know who caused the injuries to Katie, Julianna and Levi need to use their safety network to insure that neither of them are the sole caretaker of the children for a four month period. Medical: Julianna and Levi need to demonstrate actions while help everyone be confident that Katie continues to make progress in her recovery, growth and development. They need to use their safety network to get help in attending medical appointments.

34. Safety Network Agreements: 1. Mary and Steve agree to be present to help Julianna with day to day parenting for the next four months and will insure that at least one of them will be with Julianna while she cares for the children. 2. When Levi is parenting, Helen and Frank agree to be with him at all times for the next four months. 3. Pastor David agrees to drive Levi, Julianna and Katie to her monthly check-ups at the doctor. 4. Sarah agrees to come to Julianna’s apartment any time at night to give Julianna a break or rest if Katie is crying or not sleeping.

35. 5. Paul agrees to call Julianna each week to check in and talk with her about Katie’s progress and any help she might need with Katie and George. 6. Helen agrees to take George on Wednesday and Friday afternoons to give him some special attention and play time at the park. 7. Steve agrees that he will play with George in the afternoons while Mary is there for Julianna and Katie. 8. Sarah, Pastor David, Frank, Helen, Paul, Mary and Steve all agree to work together to support Julianna and Levi and will notify CPS immediately if they are worried about the plan for safety for the children or if they want to change the agreements.

36. Questions & Discussion