“I am always humbled to be included on the safety mappings. I think they do a great job of making sure everyone – family, DHHS, supports, tribes, county attorney's office, etc. are on the same page as what needs to change, how we can effectuate that, and what happens if it doesn't. I will also be amazed at sitting in with two caseworkers who told the family at the beginning – “just assume we know more than you want us to" and when the family didn't, the caseworkers demonstrated they really did. They had touched base with collateral contacts, they had done forensic interviews, they had listened to jail calls and talked with law enforcement. They clearly had done a ton of collateral work to make sure that the safety mapping was complete. I am always impressed, too, with the creativity that we display in these meetings – sometimes we don't have a lot of resources, and what and how we use them can really be impressive.
I think the safety house provides the quickest source of information for me. When a kid doesn't want mom or dad in the house, or the rules talk about not having drugs around, that's pretty telling to what has happened and where we're at. And it's touching to see how those houses change with time. My favorite is when kids are able to add safe people into their home.
Are the three wishes part of the SOP? Because that's my absolute favorite question and I look for them in every report. Perhaps more than anything else, those three answers drive home that these are kids – wishes like for tons of money, or dinosaurs, or breakfast foods for every meal make me laugh, while reminding me of the innocence that childhood should contain. And from my experience, the most common answer is to be with mom or dad, which always is a good reminder to me that for these kids, reunification is what justice looks like and I need to try to make that happen."