nccd-crc

1. Integrated Safety-Organized Practice Module Three: Small Voices, Big Impact: Keeping Children at the Center of the Work Children’s Research Center A nonprofit social research organization and division of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency www.nccd-crc.org www.nccd-crc.org

2. Our Thinking Draws Fromthe Legacy of Others CRC Staff AndrewTurnell Insoo Kim Berg Steve de Shazer SteveEdwards Sonja Parker Sue Lohrbach Rob Sawyer Susie Essex Nicki Weld Carver County John Vogel Sophia Chin Heather Meitner …and we hope YOU will continue to build on these ideas and approaches.

3. Safety-Organized Practice Safety is: Actions of protection taken by the caregiver that mitigate the danger demonstrated over time. Adapted from Boffa, J., & Podesta, H. (2004) Partnership and risk assessment in child protection practice, Protecting Children, 19(2): 36–48. Turnell, Andrew & Susie Essex Working with Denied Child Abuse, Open University Press, 2006.

5. Agreements • “Try on.” • Everyone always has the right to pass. • Know that silence is a contribution. • We agree to share airtime and stick to time limits. • We agree to speak personally, for ourselves as individuals. • We agree to disagree and avoid making assumptions or generalities. • We agree to allow others to finish speaking before we speak, and avoid interrupting and side conversations. • We will work together to hold to these agreements and authorize the trainer to hold us to them.

6. Let’s Review and Reflect! Let’s Review and Reflect! What have you tried from the module last month? What worked well? What were your challenges? How did you handle those challenges?

7. Interviewing At Our Best • In pairs: • Think about a time you interviewed a child and felt really good about it—a time it really made a difference. Tell this story to your partner. • Ask each other: What in particular did you do at this moment of which you are most proud?

8. Purpose of Interviewing Children • Engaging with children in the work helps makes children’s voices and perspectives a meaningful part of the process. • Understand that children are likely witnesses to all that goes on in a house and therefore… • Children’s perspectives are vital to gathering information about what is happening; therefore, children need to be our partners in assessment. • Children can be, and often need to be, partners in their own safety planning.

9. What Can Children Tell Us About:

10. What Can Children Tell Us About:

11. Phases of an Interview With a Child

12. Engaging Children • Get down to the child’s level—the floor is your friend! • Break down language into words and questions that children can understand. • Incorporate breaks and check-ins, and view “side trips” as a valuable part of the conversation. • Allow children to look away, fidget, wiggle, face away from you, be under the coffee table, in a different room—anything, as long as you have evidence that child is participating. • Look for what works and do more of it. • Incorporate playfulness as much as possible. • Tools—what objects are in your travel kit? • Setting—how do you make the best of the chaos?

13. Being Trauma-informed Acute trauma is a single traumatic event that is limited in time: serious accidents, serious natural disasters, sudden or violent loss of a loved one, a single physical or sexual assault. Chronic traumarefers to the experience of ongoing or multiple traumatic events: a child who is exposed to ongoing domestic violence, longstanding physical abuse and neglect, war. Complex traumadescribes both the exposure to chronic trauma—often caused by adults entrusted with the child’s care—and the complex impact of such exposure on the child.Children who have experienced multiple disrupted placements can develop this kind of complex trauma-reaction. Remember, most of the kids we talk to have had complex trauma.

14. Being Trauma-informed • What can we do? • Be aware – of the children’s reactions and of yours. • Offer choices – start, stop, breaks, location, content, anything that helps children feel a sense of partnership and shared control. • Ask for help – sometimes it is good to take a step back.

15. Two Practices For Keeping Children’s Voices at the Center

16. What is working well? What are we worried about? What needs to happen next? Reminder: Three Questions That Organize the Interview

17. Three Houses Nicki Weld and Maggie Greening Weld, N. (2009). Making sure children get “HELD” – Ideas and resources to help workers place Hope, Empathy, Love, and dignity at the heart of child protection and support. Russell House Publishing, UK.

18. The Three Houses for Children Use one big piece of paper or 3 different pieces, have lots of felt pens, and stickers available. Encourage the child to talk, draw and write. After the initial drawing and talking, try and make connections between the houses with the child and focus on their strengths. With the child’s permission, these drawings can be shown to their parents/carers to help deepen the information gathering and assessment process House of Good things House of Hopes and dreams House of Worries N. Weld, M. Greening, CYF (which is Child Youth and Family) 2003.

19. Case Example: Kaden (5 years old) Perth, Australia Kaden and his brothers were removed from Mom’s care when Kaden was 12 months old due to Mom’s drug use and neglect of the boys. Dad Bob Mum Family referred to a reunification agency. Foster carers 5 9 7 Kaden Dylan Jamie Mom has addressed the concerns and wants the boys returned to her care. Statutory agency in the process of reunifying is worried that Kaden and Jamie may be too attached to their foster parents and may not be ready to return to Mom’s care.

20. KADEN’S HOUSE OF WORRIES I’m worried every time I have to leave my real mum, Lisa, the one that made me go to foster care. Work of Bridget and Jo, UnitingCare West Perth

21. KADEN’S HOUSE OF GOOD THINGS I am happy when I play the PlayStation at my real mum’s house. Work of Bridget and Jo, UnitingCare West Perth

22. KADEN’S HOUSE OF DREAMS I’m happy because I am waving the magic wand. I wish that I could live with my real mum Lisa. Work of Bridget and Jo, UnitingCare West Perth

23. Adaptations Created by Vania da Paz, Perth

24. Which Children?

25. Before the Child Interview • Obtain permission from parents: • If safe • If forensic considerations are not compromised Select a conducive location. Decision: With parents or without? Have paper and drawing tools with you. Decision: One sibling or more?

26. Introducing Three Houses With Children Explain to child: “In the first house we will include the things that you like in your life. That’s the house of good things.” “In the second house we will write or draw your worries. That’s the house of worries.” “In the third house we will write or draw how things would be if they got better. That’s the house of dreams.”

27. Thoughts from Nicki Weld • This tool is about building greater understanding of the child’s view of their world. • It is essential to not over direct or lead the child. • Use the tool as a way of having a conversation. • Be careful about heading in with a specific situational context here as it could result the worker into leading the child to talk about this and this only, kind of “I have to get information for my assessment about this.” • See what comes as it tends to connect anyway, but go in with an open mind about this being an opportunity to have time with the child or young person and understand more about their view of their world.

28. Prompts While Drawing Three Houses Ask about any faces the child might draw. “Is it happy, sad, mean, angry, kind?” “Is there anything that you would like to be different in the house?” “Sometimes things happen inside or outside our houses that make us feel scared, angry, or sad. Are there things that make you feel…?” “What are some of the things you like to do inside or outside of the house? Friends? Activities?” “What are things you enjoy? Who do you enjoy doing things with?”“Are there any friends or special people that would go in your House of good things?” “This is a child-led, not a worker-led conversation.” – Nicki Weld

29. During the Drawing • Clarification, details • “And then what happened?” • Developmental awareness • “What does the word ‘hurt’ mean?” • Non-leading • “What else do you think I should know about that?” • Awareness of child’s process • “Do you want to take a break?” • Some children may feel nervous about “getting it right” • You can start with just one sheet of paper and the House of Good Things around them and about them. • Help out with writing if needed. • Above all: It is a conversation!

30. Talking to a Child About His/Her Drawing • Check to see if the child is in an OK space • Compliments • Thank you • Permission to share • Who do you think already knows about…? • Who do you think needs to know about…? • Who could help us with these worries?

31. Three Houses Links to Resiliency – by Nicki Weld • I CAN – The child’s social and interpersonal skills. Skills learned by interacting with others and from those who teach them. • I HAVE – The external supports and resources that promote resilience. • I AM – The child’s internal personal strengths. These are the feelings, attitudes, and beliefs within the child. • (Grotberg 1995)

32. Deciding What to Do With the Child’s Information • How to share it with parent? • Show whole drawings? • Summarize? • Hold some information that could be incendiary until child safety is secure? • Would this be helpful in a family meeting?

33. Talking to Caregivers About the Three Houses • Start with house of good things. • Worries presented as things child is worried about (vs. “truth”). • Become partners in thinking through the implications. • What are you noticing about the pictures? • How do you feel about this? • What are you thinking? • What’s your reaction? • What would you like to see happen next? • see happen next?” • Provide silence for them to process what they are seeing. • Parent reaction is information.

34. Something to Try in the Future • Consider doing your own Three Houses • Choose a piece of your work with a family and do the Three Houses on this in relation to how you feel and think about it and share this with another worker. • This can be a useful supervision tool

35. Exercise • Take the Three Houses example and talk about how the information you gathered would affect: • Items on the SDM safety assessment. • Items on the SDM risk assessment. • Score each item you can based solely on the drawing and note which items the drawing contributes to. For these: • What else would you need to know? • What other questions would it prompt you to ask the caregiver?

36. Safety House Sonja Parker

37. A method for including children’s voice in safety planning

38. Rules of the Safety House Who Lives in the House? Who can visit? Safety Path (scaling) Who don’t I feel safe with?

39. The Safety House Overview: This is your house in the future where you always feel safe. Inner circle: Who lives with you in this house? Outer circle around the house: Who can come visit? Red circle to the side: Who shouldn’t be allowed in? The roof: What kind of rules will a house like this need to make sure you always feel safe? The path: If the beginning of the path is where everyone is worried and (known danger is happening) and the end of the path is where this Safety House exists and no one is worried, where are you now? What do adults need to do so you could be one step closer to this house?

40. Created by 10-year-old “Zoe” and Sonja Parker as part of planning for Zoe’s reunification.

41. Example: Who Lives in the House?

42. Example: Rules

43. Example: Who Can Visit?

44. Example: Who Can’t Come In?

45. Safety House with 4-year-old girl Work of Dawn Schoonhoven, San Diego County Movie Monster

46. ABC’s Get back into your pairs. Think about a child you are working with now—not your hardest, but maybe one with whom it has been hard to engage. When you think about the material from today… • What’s one thing we talked about today that you are Already doing? • What’s one thing you would like to Begin doing? • What’s one thing you might want to Change about what you have been doing?

47. Opportunities for Practice

48. *Turnell, A. and Edwards S. (1999). Signs of Safety. New York: Norton

49. Summary of This Module Child involvement in interviewing and planning is a critical step in child welfare practice. Child interviews should be focused on the same content as adult interviews, but need to be done in developmentally and culturally specific ways. Three Houses and Safety Houses are ways of applying the three questions in a child-appropriate method, and keeping children at the center of everything we do. Remember, it is not the houses that are most important, it is the conversation and information that surfaces while talking.

50. References • Buckley, E. & Mennino, A. (2009). Interviewing Children. Unpublished curriculum created for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.  • Creating Trauma Informed Systems (2012). National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Retrieved from http://www.nctsn.org/resources/topics/creating-trauma-informed-systems • Freeman, J., Epston, D., & Lobovits, D. (1997). Playful Approaches to Serious Problems: Narrative Therapy with Children and Their Families. New York: Norton.  • Parker, S. (2009). The safety house: a tool for including children in safety planning. Perth, Aspirations Consultancy. Available at: www.aspirationsconsultancy.com • Weld, N. (2009).Making sure children get ‘HELD” – Ideas and resources to help workers place Hope, Empathy, Love, and dignity at the heart of child protection and support. Russell House Publishing, UK. • Weld, N. (2008). The Three Houses tool: building safety and positive change in Contemporary risk assessment for children. Calder, Martin. Russell House Publishing Ltd. Dorset. • Weld, N. Greening, M. (2004). The Three Houses – an information gathering tool. Social Work Now Vol 29 pps 34–37. • Turnell, A. and Edwards S. (1999). Signs of Safety. New York: Norton.