Resources

The Three Houses Tool — This tool can be used to explore the child’s worries about their life and parent’s mental health issues. It can help explore protective factors that can shape safety and case planning and create a picture of what needs to change for the child to feel safe and happy. This can be a powerful motivator for change for parents working with child protection.

The Safety House Tool — This tool is used to hear from the child about who and what can keep them safe, what rules need to be in place and how we can get to a point where the child feels safe. This tool can also be used to explore any feelings of blame they may have and worries about what may happen because we are involved and if they talk to us about what is happening.

Circles of Safety and Support Tool — This tool is a practical and visual cue to identify a child’s safety network and discuss with the family why this network is important. 

COPMI resources about different types of mental health issues — Children of Parents with Mental Illness (COPMI) website provides a range of resources to help talk to children, young people and parents about mental health issues.

Kids Central Toolkit — The Kids Central Toolkit provides information, resources and tools you can use in work with children, young people and families. The Toolkit is based around six key principles that support child-centred practice, and each principle includes a range of tools and resources, which are available to download. Principle 1: Keep Me Safe of the Toolkit is specifically about talking to children and parents about safety, planning for safety and provides a range of tools and activities for kids about safety.

Collaborative Assessment and Planning Framework —This famework helps to organise information already gathered, and can help identify gaps in information that is yet to be sought. It helps families understand the worries, acknowledges their strengths and provides for collaborative development of action steps.