Safety Organized Practice (SOP) Resources

Created Dec. 4, 2023 by Northern Academy

This resource provides access to news, publications, videos, tips, tools, practice briefs and course materials related to Safety Organized Practice in child welfare, with particular emphasis on Northern California counties. We're glad you made it and look forward to shaping this page to best fit your ongoing needs. If there is anything you would like to see added to this resource page, please contact us at academy@ucdavis.edu. Submissions are gladly accepted.

Not what you're looking for? Return to the Academy's Resource Barn for additional options.

New to SOP? Click here to learn more.

To learn more about the Northern California Training Academy, please visit our official website.


Safety Organized Practice Resources Menu


News

Announcing the Safety Organized Practice (SOP) Toolkit!

On behalf of and in collaboration with the SOP Backbone Committee, we're thrilled to announce the publication of the SOP Toolkit! Access the Toolkit now on the CalSWEC website! To learn more and/or help spread the word, please consider the following resources


Best Practices in Emergency Response

See the course materials section for this and other new resources!


New SOP for Supervisors Course and Materials

Access the new content at our Core for Supervisors page.


Intro to SOP Quick Guide

This quick guide for social workers covers all of the SOP essentials


Updated SOP Implementation and Practice Guide for Supervisors

We have recently updated our comprehensive SOP implementation and practice guide for child welfare supervisors! It is available now.


Publications

Safety Organized Practice Toolkit: The goal of this statewide SOP toolkit is to support consistency and fidelity of Safety Organized Practice across California, and to ensure social workers, supervisors and leaders in all counties have access to the same resources to support the practice.

Safety Organized Practice: An Implementation Guide for Child Welfare Supervisors: This comprehensive implementation guide provides supervisors with the tools and framework for translating the strategies of SOP to real-world change for staff, children and families.

Reaching Out (Coaching in the Field of Child Welfare, Spring 2017): This edition of the Northern California Training Academy's child welfare practice journal focuses specifically on coaching and includes articles on the foundations of coaching in health and human services and on lessons learned through the early and ongoing implementation efforts in Northern California and throughout the country.

Innovations in Implementing Safety Organized Practice: San Joaquin County's Journey: This case study highlights how one county in California has excelled in thoughtfully implementing SOP.

Reaching Out (Safety Organized Practice, Winter 2015): This issue of the Northern California Training Academy's child welfare practice journal offers a comprehensive review of the myriad of skills and strategies that comprise SOP and includes a look at implementation efforts and perspectives from counties and child welfare professionals who have championed SOP

SOP Stories from the Field: Orange County's new SOP Newsletter.



Videos


Conferences and Webinars

California Statewide SOP Conference (2018)


SOP IV-E Waiver Webinar Session 4: Engaging Families (Nov. 15, 2018)


SOP IV-E Waiver Webinar Session 6: Implementation, Fidelity and CQI (Dec. 13, 2018)



Tips, Tools and Practice Briefs

SOP Quick Guides for Social Workers


SOP Quick Guides for Supervisors


SOP Practice Briefs


SOP Empowerment Groups for Parents

SOP Field Tools

General Tips and Tools


Courses and Course Materials

SOP Courses

SOP Course Materials

  • More materials coming soon!


About Safety Organized Practice

Safety Organized Practice (SOP) is a collaborative practice approach that emphasizes the importance of teamwork in child welfare. SOP aims to build and strengthen partnerships with the child welfare agency and within a family by involving their informal support networks of friends and family members. A central belief of SOP is that all families have strengths. SOP uses strategies and techniques that align with the belief that a child and his or her family are the central focus, and that the partnership between the agency and the family exists in an effort to find solutions that ensure safety, permanency, and well-being for children. 

Safety Organized Practice is informed by an integration of practices and approaches, including: Solution-focused practice; Signs of Safety; Structured Decision Making; Child and family engagement; Risk and safety assessment research; Group Supervision and Interactional Supervision; Appreciative Inquiry; Motivational Interviewing; Consultation and Information Sharing Framework; Cultural Humility; and Trauma-Informed Practice.


To browse additional resources, you can return to the Academy's Resource Barn for additional options.

To learn more about the Northern California Training Academy, please visit our official website.

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