Safety Organized Practice (SOP) Foundations

Attend the new pilot training!

The California Safety Organized Practice (SOP) Backbone Committee is proud to introduce this new and improved two-day foundational overview of SOP that will replace all existing two-day foundational SOP training across California. To ensure this new and improved training meets the needs of child welfare agencies and stakeholders statewide we invite you to join us for this pilot and to provide your valuable perspective. Your voice and feedback are essential!

Course Overview

This two-day training introduces participants to the foundational values, principles, language, practice behaviors and key strategies that are required to effectively incorporate Safety Organized Practice skills and tools into practice with children, youth and families. Participants will have an opportunity to learn about and practice foundational SOP tools, including The Three Questions, mapping, Harm and Danger Statements, Safety Goals, Solution-Focused Questions, Three Houses and the Safety House.

After attending this training, participants will be able to:

• Endorse the use of SOP as a practical strategy to provide collaborative, culturally responsive and trauma-informed support to families, children and youth.  
• Describe the key elements and values of SOP and how they contribute to effective engagement, collaboration and transparent communication with parents, children, youth and their networks.  
• Recognize the components of a rigorous and balanced assessment and the tools and strategies needed to conduct this level of assessment. 
• Define key terms within SOP, including Safety, Acts of Protection, Strengths, Harm, Danger and Complicating Factors.  
• Identify foundational SOP tools and strategies and how they support critical areas of child welfare practice, including engagement, collaboration, information gathering, assessments, planning and decision-making.    
• Describe how SOP operationalizes the California Integrated Core Practice Model.
• Recognize how use of SOP supports a trauma-informed and culturally responsive approach to working with families, children and youth.
• Apply critical thinking, SOP terminology and behaviorally specific language within the mapping process given a case/referral vignette.
• Prepare a Harm Statement, Danger Statement and Safety Goal given a case/referral vignette.   
• Formulate Solution-Focused Questions to identify action steps given a case/referral vignette. 

What is Safety Organized Practice?

Safety Organized Practice (SOP) is a trauma-informed, culturally responsive, collaborative best practice in child, youth and family serving agencies emphasizing engagement and partnership with families and their natural support networks in all practice areas to facilitate change. Rooted in a central belief that all families have strengths and guided by various evidence-based practices (including Solution-Focused Therapy, Signs of Safety, Structured Decision Making, Appreciative Inquiry and Motivational Interviewing), SOP aims to identify and build on protective capacity.