Breaking New Ground: How Michigan's MiTEAM Practice Model Champions the Safe & Together™ Approach
By the Safe & Together Institute Team
When it comes to child welfare practice, few challenges are as complex—or as critical—as effectively responding to families impacted by domestic violence. With research showing that domestic violence co-occurs in 30-60% of child welfare cases, the need for specialized, evidence-informed approaches has never been more urgent. Michigan's MiTEAM Practice Model Manual stands as a groundbreaking example of how states can systematically integrate the Safe & Together Model into their entire child welfare framework.
The Foundation: Understanding Both Models
MiTEAM: A Trauma-Informed Foundation
Michigan’s MiTEAM (Michigan Teaming, Engagement, Assessment, Mentoring) Practice Model was built on a fundamental understanding that the vast majority of children in foster care have experienced complex trauma. The model centers on four core competencies:
Teaming: Creating supportive networks around families
Engagement: Building authentic, collaborative relationships
Assessment: Comprehensive, ongoing evaluation including trauma screening
Mentoring: Developmental partnerships that foster growth
Safe & Together™: A Domestic Abuse–Informed Framework
The Safe & Together Model provides a systematic framework for child welfare systems to better serve families impacted by domestic violence. Built on three core principles and five critical components, it emphasizes:
Keeping children safe and together with the non-offending parent
Partnering with the non-offending parent as the default position
Intervening with the perpetrator to reduce risk and harm
The Integration: Where Innovation Meets Implementation
What makes Michigan’s approach remarkable isn’t just that they’ve adopted the Safe & Together Model—it’s how they’ve woven it seamlessly throughout their entire practice model. This isn’t a superficial add-on or separate protocol; it’s a fundamental integration that transforms how workers approach every aspect of their practice.
Engagement Redefined
Traditional child welfare engagement often falls short in domestic violence cases, sometimes inadvertently re-traumatizing survivors or failing to hold perpetrators accountable. The MiTEAM manual transforms this by providing specific guidance for:
Engaging Perpetrators:
Setting clear behavioral expectations focused on the perpetrator’s pattern of coercive control
Maintaining high standards while remaining strengths-based
Avoiding collusion while building accountability
Partnering with Survivors:
Validating existing safety planning efforts
Building on protective capacities already demonstrated
Using trauma-informed language that doesn’t blame or shame
Supporting Children:
Understanding the complex feelings children have about both parents
Involving children in age-appropriate safety planning
Addressing trauma while maintaining family connections
Assessment Through a New Lens
Perhaps nowhere is the integration more evident than in the assessment guidance. Rather than treating domestic violence as just another risk factor, the manual provides a comprehensive framework for understanding:
Perpetrator patterns using the five critical components outlined in Safe & Together’s Core Training
Survivor protective capacities through detailed mapping tools
Child impact and safety through 13 specific risk assessment categories
Family dynamics that account for coercive control
This isn't checkbox assessment—it’s sophisticated clinical evaluation that recognizes domestic violence as a complex pattern of behaviors that impacts every aspect of family functioning.
Revolutionary Documentation Practices
One of the most practical innovations in the manual is its approach to documentation. Using Safe & Together’s critical components, workers learn to document cases in ways that:
Clearly articulate perpetrator patterns rather than isolated incidents
Highlight survivor strengths and protective efforts
Connect behaviors to child impact in specific, measurable ways
Maintain safety through strategic information management
Example documentation shifts from generic language like “this couple has a history of domestic violence” to specific, pattern-based descriptions that clearly identify who is responsible for what behaviors and how they impact the children.
The Teaming Revolution: Safety in Collaboration
Family team meetings become dramatically different when domestic violence is involved. The manual provides unprecedented guidance on:
Safety assessment for meeting participation
Separate meetings when perpetrator presence would compromise safety
Survivor preparation that honors their expertise about their own safety
Perpetrator accountability within team structures
Follow-up protocols that prioritize ongoing safety
This approach recognizes that effective teaming in domestic violence cases requires sophisticated safety planning and specialized facilitation skills.
Case Planning That Changes Behavior
Perhaps most importantly, the integration transforms case planning from a service-focused approach to a behavior-change model. The manual provides 15 specific case planning components for perpetrators that focus on:
Ending coercive control rather than just physical violence
Supporting survivor autonomy in parenting and decision-making
Addressing trauma impact on children
Maintaining accountability across multiple life domains
Each component includes clear success measures that focus on behavioral change rather than mere program completion.
The Mentoring Difference: Building Capacity for Change
The mentoring competency takes on new dimensions when applied through a Safe & Together lens. Workers learn to:
Mentor survivors in ways that build on existing strengths
Hold perpetrators accountable while maintaining engagement
Support children’s healing while maintaining family connections
Address secondary trauma in themselves and their colleagues
What This Means for the Field
Michigan’s integration of the Safe & Together approach into their MiTEAM model represents more than policy innovation—it’s a fundamental shift in how child welfare systems can respond to domestic violence. Key implications include:
For Other States: This manual provides a roadmap for systematic integration rather than piecemeal adoption of domestic abuse–informed practices.
For Workers: It offers concrete, practical guidance that moves beyond awareness to actual skill development in domestic abuse–informed practice.
For Families: It promises more effective interventions that don’t inadvertently harm survivors while still protecting children and addressing perpetrator behavior.
For Outcomes: Early indicators suggest this approach leads to better safety outcomes, more appropriate service provision, and improved family stability.
The Broader Vision
What emerges from Michigan’s approach is a vision of child welfare practice that’s both more sophisticated and more humane. By integrating Safe & Together principles throughout their practice model, they’ve created a system that:
Recognizes complexity while providing clear guidance
Maintains safety focus while avoiding victim-blaming
Holds perpetrators accountable while remaining strengths-based
Supports healing while ensuring protection
Looking Forward
As other states grapple with how to better serve families impacted by domestic violence, Michigan’s MiTEAM manual offers both inspiration and practical guidance. It demonstrates that comprehensive integration is not only possible but essential for effective practice.
The manual serves as a powerful reminder that when we truly understand the dynamics of domestic violence and commit to evidence-informed practice, we can transform not just our interventions but our entire approach to supporting families toward safety, healing, and hope.