Family Safeguarding

The Family Safeguarding Model brings together Children's Social Workers, Adult Mental Health, Substance Use and Domestic Abuse Practitioners into one team. These teams will then work alongside agencies such as health and police to provide families, children and young people with targeted support.

Put simply, this reduces the need for referrals and makes it easier for families to access help when they need it the most.

Our Family Safeguarding teams will:

• Focus on abuse and neglect in families where it is present
• Use Motivational Interviewing as a key social work tool
• Use Electronic Workbooks to improve recording and assessment
• Take part in Family Safeguarding group case supervision
• Use an Eight Module Parenting and Family Programme, bringing together all the case information and providing a clearer overview

The Department for Education commissioned two evaluations of the Family Safeguarding Model. The reports highlighted how the approach is ‘effective’ and that a higher level of positive outcomes for families were achieved. The results indicated fewer children coming into care, child protection plans and a lower level of domestic abuse.

The key benefits for Southampton include:

• More children will be kept within their families if it is safe to do so
• Improved relationships between families and practitioners
• Practitioners will have more time to spend with children and families