Safety Summit Project
The Safety Summit Project was developed to help local dependency court systems enhance safety practice by developing a common understanding and language for talking about child safety. Court communities that participate in the Safety Summit Project gain a basic cross-system understanding of how to apply the Safety Framework to crucial aspects of cases (safety assessment, safety planning, conditions for return, family time, and case planning) in tangible ways that ultimately result in a more effective dependency system and better outcomes for families. When all court and system partners utilize a shared understanding and language to clearly and consistently articulate safety-related information, including the harms of removal, the court can engage parties in meaningful inquiries around assessments of safety, safety planning and case planning in ways that support improved outcomes for children and families.
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Interested in bringing the Safety Summit Project to your court community?
Benefits to Court Communities
To assess the impact on the court process, FYJP worked with Dr. Alicia Summers, from the Capacity Building Center for Courts, to conduct a pre- and post-summit hearing quality evaluation. The evaluation found clear evidence of meaningful, positive changes to in-court safety practice. Dr. Summers observed improved safety practice in the documentation submitted to court and in discussions that occurred during shelter care and review hearings. The Safety Summit Advisory Team is using the evaluation results to further refine its efforts and improve outcomes.
Meet the State Advisory Team
The Safety Summit Project is the result of a training partnership between the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF), Office of Public Defense (OPD) Parent Representation Program and the Washington Association for Child Advocate Programs (WACAP). The planning, implementation, monitoring and continued development of the Safety Summit Project is overseen by the multi-disciplinary Safety Summit Advisory Team (SSAT), which works with individual court sites at all phases of the project. A special thank you to Rob Wyman from Casey Family Programs who consults on the team. Click on each team members’ picture to see their full bio.
Safety Summit HUBs
The training materials, video recording, and strategic plans for all past Safety Summit Project sites can be found in each site’s respective online HUB below.
Upcoming Summits
Past Summits
For more information about the Safety Summit Project, please contact Tarassa Froberg at tarassa.froberg@courts.wa.gov