Safety Organized Practice (SOP) is an essential part of child welfare transformation in North Carolina. Our state has chosen to implement this best practice approach because it develops child welfare professionals' skills in family engagement, rigorous assessment, and critical thinking so they can create sustained safety, permanency, and well-being for children and their families (UC Davis, 2024).
Some SOP practices, such as scaling and other solution-focused questions, have been widely used in our state for years. Others, such as the Three Houses, are less familiar. Implementation of Safety Organized Practice in North Carolina will be an organic process, with each child welfare professional gradually learning about and adding SOP practices to the tools they use with families.
This issue of Practice Notes explains how SOP fits into North Carolina's child welfare practice model and explores how using SOP tools and techniques can make child welfare casework more safety-focused, trauma-informed, family-centered, and solution-focused. Using SOP tools and practices enhances our ability to achieve positive outcomes for families and children.
"Collaborative, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive, this best practice approach is rooted in evidence-based practice and provides practical tools to support engagement, assessment, and critical thinking. It actively positions the family as the expert and holds child welfare professionals responsible for honoring each family's unique culture and perspective by uplifting and building on their strengths"
- (UC Davis, 2024)
