Herefordshire has adopted Signs of Safety as an approach for working with children across all partner agencies. The Herefordshire model builds on and incorporates the Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, which was developed to provide a systemic way of understanding children, young people and their families within the context of their history and the community that they live in.

Signs of Safety is a systemic approach where practitioners put their values and beliefs into practice where the child’s voice is central. As with the Framework for Assessment, Signs of Safety builds on a family’s strength as well as identifying difficulties, and develops collaborative and constructive working relationships with children, parents/carers, family/friend networks and professionals. It involves practitioners being aspirational for families and treating every encounter as an opportunity for change and help, building capacity and resilience.

The approach encourages professionals to think critically which means reflecting on what has worked and what has not worked, remaining open and being prepared to admit they may have got it wrong. Signs of Safety is a questioning approach not an expert approach, and it requires respectful curiosity and skilful use of authority.

Signs of Safety Information Leaflet for Families

This section contains information and examples about various Signs of Safety practice tools for work with children, parents/carers and their support networks to help understand the Signs of Safety ethos and methodology:

Signs of Safety Tools

This section contains information and examples about various Signs of Safety practice tools for work with children, parents/carers and their support networks to help understand the Signs of Safety ethos and methodology.

Click on each title below to find the documents:

Signs of Safety Training

Following feedback, we have adapted the two day Signs of Safety Training to a One-day Introduction to Signs of Safety (History, Philosophy, Practice and Tools), and introduced new Signs of Safety Toolbox sessions on specific practice topics.

The Introduction to Signs of Safety  is an essential foundation training in the Signs of Safety practice model for all children’s safeguarding multi-agency professionals in Herefordshire. This course will enable you to get to know the Signs of Safety approach of working in a strengths based way with families and to think through how you can use the Signs of Safety/Wellbeing/Success model in your everyday practice.

This training will explain Signs of Safety and introduce professionals to the tools, language and approach when working with children and families across the safeguarding journey from Early Help, through child protection and to care experienced young people.

To book on the Introduction course, or any of the Toolbox sessions, please go to Signs of Safety Courses – Herefordshire