Whenever children are in danger, we cannot, in good conscience, leave them, even for just a few minutes. We must take a strong stand with the parents that we cannot leave the children until they have brought some people around the children who clearly understand the danger that worries us, know exactly what they must do to make sure the things we're worried about don't happen, and are willing to do it for both the children's sake and the sake of the children's parents.
The first few hours and days of safety planning offer the greatest leverage for quickly getting a strong safety network and plan around the children. If we leave children in danger, even for just a few minutes, how do we come back later and get people invested in doing something to make the children safer? If children are removed without giving parents a fair chance to make their children safe enough in their home, they’ll most often be too angry and crushed for a time to courageously call the people in their naturally occurring network for help. They likely won't be very open to working with the social worker who took their children. But if we immediately get more adults around the children and get a good enough network and plan to keep the children safe overnight, through the weekend, or through the next week, everybody involved will be in a better place to do the work that needs to be done, and to do it together. Once the initial safety network and plan is in place, we need to monitor it closely to see the parts that are working and to improve on the parts that aren't working as well as desired. A plan is just a plan until we clearly see it working and see that it's keeping the children safe.
There are other benefits to getting an immediate safety network around the children. Network members can help parents make a plan so the things they worry about, things their relatives and friends worry about, and/or things the child protection system is worried might happen, don't happen. If any of the things anyone is worried about do happen, things will get worse fast. Things will be worse for the children, for their parents, for all of the people who care about the children, and for the child protection system that is supposed to make sure bad things don't happen to children. When there is a safety network, members can do a lot of things that help the children and their parents. Network members can do things for the children and the family that a social worker will surely end up doing if there isn't a network. Whenever a social worker is involved with a family that has a safety network in place, that worker will have more time to listen to the parents and children and to do more of the things that are truly helpful to the children and parents.
If you are a social worker learning to do safety planning with families it likely feels overwhelming to think about getting a network involved with every family. If this is the case, start by getting a network every time you meet a new family where children are in danger. Clearly describe your worries to the parents and refuse to leave the children until the parents have brought relatives, friends, or neighbors around the children, made sure they clearly understand the worries, and know exactly what to do to make sure the worries don't happen. The more you do this sort of planning with parents and network members, the better you'll get at it and the faster it will go. Once every family you work with has a network around the children, your job will be far easier and you'll wonder why you weren't taught to do the work this way from your very first day.