Direct Work with Families

Part of my work through SP Consultancy involves direct work with families, providing a range of family and safety-centred child protection services, including:

• Comprehensive risk assessments.
• Family preservation and reunification, including in situations of ‘denied’ child abuse.
• Family conferences.
• Rigorous safety planning.
• "Words and Pictures" with young people in care.

FAMILY ASSESSMENTS

Risk Assessments

Provide short term, in-home risk assessments, working with the family, the family’s naturally occurring network and with relevant professionals to assess the current level of safety and to identify what would need to happen for everyone to be confident that the children are safe within the family’s care.


Pre-Reunification Assessments

Pre-reunification assessments with a family and the family’s network to determine whether there is sufficient safety to:

• Progress to unsupervised or family-supervised contact.
• Commence overnight stays.
• Refer to a reunification service.

This assessment service will also provide a recommended reunification plan that is developed in collaboration with the family.




FAMILY PRESERVATION AND REUNIFICATION

SP Consultancy provides an in-home family preservation and reunification service, which focuses on working with families to build sufficient safety for children to remain within the care of their family, or on safely reconnecting children with their families.

Working with the family, professionals and a safety network, SP Consultancy will:

• Develop a ‘Words and Pictures” document for the children.
• Facilitate a rigorous safety planning process that involves all the stakeholders, including the children.
• Monitor the implementation of the safety plan and ongoing safety for the children.

SP Consultancy can also work with families where issues of ‘denial’ are making it difficult to address the concerns or to progress reunification.



FAMILY CONFERENCES

SP Consultancy can set up and facilitate a family conference, bringing together the family, the safety network and relevant professionals to clearly identify the concerns and involve the network in developing and monitoring safety plans. Conferencing can be a powerful intervention at any stage in the life of a child protection case, including pre-birth, with injured infants or children, court diversion conferences, pre-reunification, and leaving care conferencing.

WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

SP Consultancy can work directly with young people and their networks, in a range of contexts, to enhance the young person’s safety and wellbeing. Interventions include:

• Using the ‘Words and Pictures’ process to help a young person understand why they are in care.
• Assessment and safety planning with young people to help them be more involved in decision-making about their future.