Partnering with Survivors to Protect Children: How One City Revolutionized Children's Services with Safe & Together

Manchester Children’s Services has radically changed ITS approach to domestic violence by partnering with survivors using the Safe & Together Model approach.

Systems change efforts are some of the most challenging undertakings. It’s no surprise that most of us are hesitant to roll the die on system-wide changes. Yet, Manchester Children’s Services decided to do exactly that. They radically changed their approach to safeguarding children who have been exposed to domestic violence by partnering with survivors using the Safe & Together Model's approach. I wanted to understand why. So, I sat down for a conversation with the champions working tirelessly for the wellbeing of children in Manchester.

The Manchester Team

Jane Slinger, Steve (LN) and Lucy (LN) were instrumental in implementing the Safe & Together Model™ in Manchester City. Jane is a service manager who coordinates the implementation of service models with social workers and partner agencies. Steve is a quality assessment consultant who oversees the quality of service provision, training social workers in assessing families from the Safe & Together perspective. Lucy is a social worker who works closely with direct service providers, interacting closely with the medical system.

What set Jane and her team down the path of the Safe & Together Model?

Jane responded: “High numbers of children subjected to child protection plans because of DV. About 70% of our referrals are due to DV”. At one time, most of these children would have been quickly subjected to child protection plans. And many would have been separated from their parents. Further, this would have occurred irrespective of who perpetrated the abuse. This strategy is not new to the world of child and family services.

For example, survivors have long been held responsible for ‘failure to protect’. This means that they are held accountable for their partner's abuse. In fact, Jane had heard too many service providers say things like, “You [mothers*] are prioritizing your relationship, not protecting your child.” This did not improve outcomes for children. Unfortunately, these children often returned to MCS over and over again. The Safe & Together Model supports professionals in shifting the paradigm from "failure to protect" to partnering with survivors.

“Parents often worry if they get a knock from a Social worker. Their fear is that their children will be taken away." - Lucy

Building relationships to build trust.

In 2016, Jane first stumbled upon the Safe & Together Institute. Here was an organization pushing a  novel idea: partnering with survivors to ensure good outcomes for children. She knew she had found the answer to improving outcomes for children. In addition, she had found a solution to the double standards placed on adult survivors.

Importantly, the Safe & Together approach has fundamentally altered relationships between the families the unit serves and the advocates and case workers working with them in Manchester.. “Parents often worry that if they get a knock from a Social worker, their fear is that their children will be taken away, so partnering with the survivor from the word go has changed relationships. We’ve had feedback from survivors talking about their confidence and trust in services,” says Jane.

Breaking Through The Barrier of Trust

The barrier of trust has long divided both child welfare workers and advocates from families. Lucy, who provides and supervises advocacy in the region, attributes the shift in social workers’ behaviors to the breakthrough of trust with families. “The social worker makes contact with survivors – straight away they focus on what will work for the survivor, what do they need rather than us deciding. The partnering (with the survivor) aspect is what they are really strong at.”

Partnering with survivors to protect children.

One might wonder: if the goal is to protect children, shouldn’t the focus of services be on the child? Steve, Manchester Children’s Services’ resident quality assessment and training specialist, jumped in to elaborate. The approach does exactly that: protect children. The loss of a parent who is working every day to protect their child from a perpetrator only renders children more vulnerable. In addition to partnering with the survivor, seeing the role of the perpetrator's patterns of behavior enables the social worker to make a strong case for keeping children under the safe protection of the surviving parent.

Partnering with Survivors is a Paradigm Shift

“The old language around failure to protect is pretty much flushed out of the system. Everyone is talking about how to keep the child together with the non-offending parent,” said Steve. Where there was a conveyor belt approach to cases, this team now plays the long game. Steve elaborated, “We’re looking at it through a longer-term lens now. Even when the perpetrator may receive accountability, we’re not closing the case right away, we are looking at how can we strengthen things with the survivor and how can we form that partnership and make sure that she’s safe. Whether or not she chooses to remain in that relationship, she becomes stronger and has a network around her.”

Intervening with Perpetrators to Protect Children.

The Manchester team has also seen an increase in referrals to their perpetrator intervention programs. This is another advantage to partnering with the survivor. The increased awareness of perpetrator behavior patterns has resulted in Social Workers making more referrals to offender intervention programs.

Working closely with partners to build system-wide change.

Next, as with any new approach, these changes in practice have required working more closely with partners. According to Jane, Steve and Lucy, their partners have embraced the new approach. They have championed the model in their respective spaces. This has also begun shifting the culture of their organizations. Most importantly, they now have a blueprint for how to work together in this approach. “The model lays out tangibles that people can organize themselves around and allows them to figure out how to work in a system that is highly reliant on multiagency work. Everyone can support the child in different ways. So, that’s where we’ve done all the training and awareness raising. If you work in this sector, you can at least latch on this one aspect of the Model and have an impact.”

how Safe & Together facilitated systems collaboration

Every month, Jane brings together providers and leaders who have been trained in the Safe & Together Model into one room to help continue to roll out the Model, share practical experience and talk about the approach.

As a result, the new language, new alliances, and greater perpetrator accountability have bled into partner systems. This has provided the collective momentum to sustain the approach long into the future. “When we take a case to a conference now, there is a shift. People are now asking why the perpetrator is not here.” It also means that Manchester Children’s Services has expanded its protective reach in the community. For example, now others who come into contact with vulnerable children, like teachers in schools, are more empowered to respond appropriately to domestic abuse. Specifically, they are able to respond better to survivors. The school system itself is shifting as a result of the Model.

When we take a case to a conference now, there is a shift. People are asking why the perpetrator is not here. - Jane

Skills-based training on Partnering with Survivors transforms practice.

Finally, among MCS staff, Steve sees newfound intentionality and thoughtfulness in approaching families. “I did a lot of one on one chats with workers. For the first time, instead of just coming to a conclusion, they are having a chat about how they can address this, which was different from what was happening before. They are stopping to think before acting, where typically, they would walk into a situation unprepared.” Prior to venturing down this partnership with Safe & Together, social workers in this unit had very few skill-based trainings. They received information about domestic violence, focused mostly on the impact of abuse on children, but that was all.

“There was no training that informed or coached workers on how to conduct an assessment, how to organize the information, how to intervene in a safe manner, and how to look at the impact of all that on the child all in one go. This [safe & together] is the first.” When service providers have concrete tools to transform their practice, such as partnering with survivors, survivors and children will be the first to benefit.

We’re looking at it through a longer- term lens now. We are looking at how we can strengthen things with the survivor, how can we form that partnership and make sure that she’s safe? - Jane

About Manchester Children’s Services

Children’s Services of Manchester City is tasked with safeguarding children (ages 0 to 18), their families and youth between 18 and 24 who were previously in the care of the city. They provide advocacy on behalf of children, including initiating court proceedings in cases of domestic abuse, initiating adoption proceedings, creating and implementing child protection plans and plans to cater to the needs of children, not in the city’s care. They also work with parents to ensure the wellbeing of children. Additionally, children’s services works closely with drug & alcohol services, education, health services, police, and various charities like women’s aid, domestic abuse agencies, and housing providers to identify the best response for a child in need.

JANE SLINGER

Service Manager, Assessment and ServiceJane coordinates implementation of service models with social workers and partner agencies. She brings key stakeholders together to create momentum and propel collective learning and growth. Jane set up the Safe and Together board and champions groups in Manchester, bringing leaders from different partner agencies together.

LUCY BIRCH

Team Manager, Duty & Assessment Social Work TeamLucy manages a team of social workers within the South Locality of the City. Lucy was within the first cohort of frontline staff to attend the Core Training in Safe & Together. She has used learning from the CORE training alongside the guides developed by Steve, to encourage and support social workers in using the model with the children and families they are working with.

STEVE BROCK

Quality Assessments ConsultantSteve oversees quality assessment plans and practice, bringing all the different models and tools used in providing services together. Steve has been instrumental in developing trainings and guides for social workers who want to assess families from the Safe & Together perspective.

About Gendered Language

*The Safe & Together Model is both fact-based and gender-responsive. We believe three things. First, domestic violence perpetrators can be both male or female. Second, domestic violence can occur in heterosexual and same-sex relationships. And third, believe it is important to acknowledge that the child welfare system has often approached mothers and fathers with different parenting expectations.Because of this, to comprehensively address perpetrator accountability in the context of child safety, it requires an examination of the impact of the father’s abusive behavior across a full range of domains of child and family functioning. In this way, our Model's approach views domestic violence as a “parenting choice. In addition, we believe good practice requires a comprehensive, gender-responsive assessment lens for looking at mothers’ protective efforts. This means going beyond calling the police, getting a court order and/or leaving. Instead, we recognize survivors' day-to-day parenting efforts as protective efforts and parenting strengths. As a result, good practice ensures that all the work that adult survivors may be doing to protect their kids will not be overlooked because “it’s just what mothers do.”Sudha Sankar, Ph.D.

Learn more about the Safe & Together Institute HERE.

Take our e-course on Partnering with the Adult Survivor HERE.