Professionals

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Whether you work in the statutory, private, voluntary or independent sector in Stoke-on-Trent and provide services for, or come into contact with, children and young people, you have an important role to play in keeping them safe. This includes volunteers who provide support and services to children.

Restorative Practice:

Stoke-on-Trent Safeguarding Children Partnership will develop and embed a restorative approach in our work with each other and with the children and families that our agencies work with.

Restorative Practice is a proactive strength-based approach that reinforces the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships by seeking to understand the needs of the people in your community. The Restorative Approach involves a journey of change using the principles of collaboration and inclusion.

Restorative Practice is a way to be, not a process to follow or a thing to do at certain times. It’s a term used to describe principles, behaviours and approaches which build and maintain healthy relationships and a sense of community and can resolve difficulties and repair harm where there has been conflict. It is a way of being with people, essentially to work with and alongside others to create sustainable change.

Restorative practice is built on a number of key principles that are supported by research. These principles include:

1. Relationships are central to effective working
2. Everyone’s voices should be heard and valued
3. Problem-solving should be collaborative
4. Accountability and responsibility lead to change and growth

Restorative practice is about creating and maintaining respectful and trusting relationships and working WITH people, rather than just “doing to” or “doing for”.

The relationships practitioners build should be child focused and engage the whole family. Recognising that to achieve and sustain change we need to support parents to care for children, not just repeatedly assess or criticise. Instead we need to provide practical support and recognise that families are the experts in their lives and their strengths and goals will be central to our approach.

Restorative practice is also about high support and high challenge. Recognising we support parents but we will also not collude with each other as professionals or with parents. Therefore, high challenge, inquisitive practice and escalation where needed is vital and central to the approach being taken.