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Safety mapping

This resource is from the Scale-Up toolkit and should be used in conjunction with the other resources. You can access the Scale-Up toolkit here.

Case of creating a new child protection conference 

This safety mapping exercise has been developed by Hackney Children and Families Services to help practitioners to identify areas of risk and safety and can be used for safety planning with children, families and networks. Safety mapping can be used by practitioners as part of a broader assessment of risk within local neighbourhoods or on its own with individual young people.

Young people encounter risk and safety in locations outside of the home. These experiences are crucial in shaping how young people move through their local neighbourhood and how they keep themselves safe. By carrying out safety mapping with young people, practitioners can learn and understand about where young people feel safe or at risk. This has a number of benefits:

  • Offering professionals a way to understand how and why young people might choose certain routes around their local area and how this impacts them. For example, a young person might be late for appointments or school because they take longer routes to avoid risk.
  • Providing a reflective space for young people to consider locations where they are safe and what to do if they encounter risk.
  • Supporting professionals to consider locations of risk/safety when making decisions about young people. For example, where to place young people or what service locations may be best for them.
  • If multiple safety maps are completed with several young people, they can provide an overview of risk and safety in local areas in order to support wider interventions into the local environment. If carried out over time they can support practitioners to understand the changing nature of risk in a local area.
Safety mapping tools