Strategies to Ensure Staff Safety

Home visits are crucial to the Sullivan and Partners in Learning programs (Sullivan I & II). This rural program ensures the safety of its instructional staff by insisting that they carry cell phones. This is particularly important as many of the families are without phone service. Staff members also complete a calendar of their home visit schedule on a monthly basis, updating it as changes occur. They are asked to call into the program when on the road or if a change in location occurs. These procedures help ensure the safety of the staff as well as allow them to be contacted should an emergency arise when away from the office.

If a home to be visited is in a questionable location, staff members have been instructed to ask a fellow staff member to accompany them. If a referral to a family who lives in a potentially unsafe location is made by another agency (such as Department of Family Services, Early Intervention, or the school social worker), a person from that agency may be asked to accompany the family educator.

In situations where threatening or uncomfortable activity is witnessed, another site should be designated for the home visit (such as a library or other public place). 

Additional Strategies

• Provide each staff member with a cell phone.
• Have staff call the office before they enter a less safe area. Then call the office when the visit is complete.
• Make sure the office has the daily schedule of each staff person, including time of visit and locations of visits with phone numbers (if there is a phone.)
• Provide training for staff on working within families' homes. This training should include health and safety issues like developing an exit plan for the home you are in, avoiding head lice, recognizing safety hazards, some basic first aid, how to approach the door, what to do if the family is not at home, what to do about dogs, etc. In some communities, there are other home visiting programs. Shared staff training and discussion of shared "safety plans" is helpful. 
• Provide each staff member with training on how to recognize drug-related activity in homes. This training can be given by local police of sheriffs' offices or by a substance abuse center in the community. Part of this training may include the local authorities suggestions on what to do, who to call, etc.
  

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