SOP Module: Small Voices, Big Impact: Keeping Children at the Center of Our Work

Level: Advanced Practice

Credits: 3

Intended Audience: This course is intended for social workers, supervisors and managers interested in learning about Safety Organized Practice and tools for keeping children at the center of their social work practice.

Description of Course: The course provides training on the basic purpose of interviewing children, how to keep children at the center of social work practice by engaging them during interviews, representing their voice in written documentation, and by assessing for trauma in children.

Intended Objectives:

• Describe the importance of keeping children at the center of social work practice
• Describe the purpose of interviewing children
• Develop tools for engaging children during the interview process including the Three Houses and the Safety House
• Review strategies for practicing with a trauma-informed lens
• Develop tools for gathering accurate information to be used in SDM assessments and to insure that accurate decisions are made

Topics Include:

• Purpose of interviewing children
• Engaging children
• Connecting to trauma-informed practice
• Three houses
• Safety house