Family Safeguarding
FAMILY SAFEGUARDING
Family Safeguarding is a whole family approach to working with children and families that supports parents and carers to create sustained change for themselves and for their family. Central to the foundations of the approach is the intrinsic value and worth of families. As a model of practice, it aims to keep more children safely in their families in line with the vision of the Children Act 1989. To achieve this, all Family Safeguarding authorities recognise the need to change their attitudes to families, to create a culture based on seeing every family as deserving of help and support, and not people deliberately setting out to harm their children.
Family Safeguarding takes a multi-disciplinary approach to working with families including Children and Families Social Workers and Family Support Practitioners, working alongside Adult Specialist Workers to provide help and support in relation to issues associated with parental domestic abuse, substance misuse and mental ill-health. Family Safeguarding teams work with children aged pre-birth to seventeen years where the issues relate to abuse and neglect of the child/young person by their families.
Family Safeguarding is built on core foundations of social work practice with shared values across the partnership workforce including:
- Supporting the development of stable relationships
- Having a shared model across agencies
- A focus on strengths and balance with need
- Promoting purposeful interactions
For more details read the Family Safeguarding Guide here
