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SOP Definition

Safety Organized Practice (SOP) is a collaborative practice approach that emphasizes the importance of teamwork in child welfare. SOP aims to build and strengthen partnerships with the child welfare agency and within a family by involving their informal support networks of friends and family members SOP uses strategies and techniques that align with the belief that a child and his or her family are the central focus, and that the partnership exists in an effort to find solutions that ensure safety, permanency, and well-being for children. It offers critical thinking and engagement tools that can help to sort the key safety issues from complicating factors, and focus solutions on resolution of the specific worries about future maltreatment and its impact on the child. Safety Organized Practice is informed by an integration of practices and approaches that many child welfare staff may already be practicing, including:

  • Solution-focused practice 1
  • Signs of Safety 2
  • Structured Decision Making 3
  • Child and family engagement 4
  • Risk and safety assessment research
  • Group Supervision and Interactional Supervision 5
  • Appreciative Inquiry 6
  • Motivational Interviewing 7
  • Consultation and Information Sharing Framework 8

    • 1 Berg, I.K. and De Jong, P (1996). Solution-building conversations: co-constructing a sense of competence with clients. Families in Society, pp. 376-391; de Shazer, S. (1985). Keys to solution in brief therapy. New York, NY: Norton; Saleebey, D. (Ed.). (1992). The strengths perspective in social work practice. New York: Longman.
    2 Turnell, A. (2004). Relationship-grounded, safety-organized child protection practice: dreamtime or real-time option for child welfare? Protecting Children, 19(2): 14–25; Turnell, A. & Edwards, S. (1999). Signs of Safety: A safety and solution oriented approach to child protection casework. New York: WW Norton.
    3 Children’s Research Center (2008). Structured Decision Making: An evidence-based practice approach to human services. Madison: Author.
    4 Parker, S. (2010). Family safety circles: Identifying people for their safety network. Perth, Australia: Aspirations Consultancy; Weld, N. (2008). The three houses tool: building safety and positive change. In M. Calder (Ed.) Contemporary risk assessment in safeguarding children. Lyme Regis: Russell House Publishing.
    5 Lohrbach, S. (2008). Group supervision in child protection practice, Social Work Now, 40, pp. 19-24.
    6 Cooperrider and David, L. 1990. Positive image, positive action: The affirmative basis of organizing. In S. Srivastva, D. L. Cooperrider and Associates (Eds.) Appreciative management and leadership: The power of positive thought and action in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
    7 Miller, W.R., & Rollnick, S. (2012). Motivational Interviewing, (3rd ed.) New York: Guilford Press, 2012.
    8 Lohrbach, S. (1999). Child Protection Practice Framework – Consultation and Information Sharing. Unpublished manuscript; Lohrbach, S., & Sawyer, R. (2003). Family Group Decision Making: a process reflecting partnership based practice, Protecting Children, 19(2): 12-15. (this belongs up with the citations)

Bay Area Academy offers a range of services to support your county with implementation of Safety Organized Practice. There is not a prescribed order for services; however, please work with your Workforce Development Specialist to develop a plan that will best meet your county’s needs and builds upon lessons learned from other jurisdictions.

  • Overviews for social work staff at all levels:
    • Three-day (allows for the most skills practice)
    • Two-day (medium amount of skills practice)
    • One-day (limited skills practice)
    • 1.5-3 hour overviews for court partners, CASA, resource parents (Spanish & English), Behavioral Health, CFT facilitators, visitation centers
  • Foundational Modules
    • Nine full-day modules
  • Advanced Modules
    • Sexual Abuse Case Planning Considerations
    • A Safety Organized Approach to Domestic Violence: Partnering with the Survivor and Engagement with the Perpetrator
      • 2-hour webinar for directors & upper management
      • One-day Introduction for staff at all levels
      • Modules 1-3 re: Partnering with the Survivor
      • Modules 4-6 re: Engagement with the Perpetrator
  • Trainings for Trainers
    • Safety Organized Practice Overview (two-day)
    • 9 Foundational Modules (5 days)

As you know, transfer of learning from the classroom to the field can be increased from as low as 4% to as high as 97% when training is followed by coaching and institutional supports for implementation.
Statewide coaching definition
“Coaching is a process by which the coach creates structured, focused interaction with learners and uses appropriate strategies, tools, and techniques to promote desirable and sustainable change for the benefit of the learning, making positive impact on the organization. It is also a parallel process with leadership utilizing the principles of coaching with managers, managers with supervisors, supervisors with staff, and staff with the families being served.” California Safety Organized Practice Coaching Guide, 2015. Adapted from Mink, Owen, & Mink (1993); Cox, Backriova & Clutterbuck (2010)
Coaching and Field-Based Training Options
  • Individual with a social worker, in the office or in the field with youth and families
  • Individual with a supervisor, manager or director
  • Supervisor, manager or director with their direct report
  • Case staffings
  • Child and Family Team meetings
  • Clinical staffings with Behavioral Health
  • Unit coaching
  • Group coaching with supervisors and/or managers
  • Other structured or informal group coaching