Narrative Practice and the Signs of Safety Approach: Engaging Adolescents in Building Rigorous Safety Plans

Abstract

The Signs of Safety approach to child protection has been gaining prominence around the world and this approach has developed through learning from good practice. Generally, examples of good practice are derived from adults who pose a risk to children, while this paper outlines an example of good practice that engages an adolescent in building a safety plan. It addresses the balance needed to be struck between the complex nature of addressing concerns and developing a rigorous safety plan while not shaming the young person and creating resistance or avoidance. This paper therefore sets out how the Signs of Safety approach can be synthesised with narrative practice to create an effective approach in working with young people. Using the externalising process along with re-membering conversations, positive alternative stories can be created about the young person's identity that support desistance and promote engagement with the authorities. A case example is used to demonstrate this synthesis where a young person has displayed harmful sexual behaviour towards a child. Consideration is given as to how this approach reduces shame-inducing practice often associated with statutory child protection processes. It concludes with the potential for such an approach to be applied more widely to working with young people.