Steve Edwards, my co-conspirator in creating Signs of Safety, passed away last Saturday, January 31, aged 75. Steve died in hospital having suffered a very severe stroke on New Year’s Eve. I feel numb and sad relaying this news.
Steve worked in statutory child protection for 16 years after graduating with an Anthropology degree in1977. Eight of those years he was working primarily with and in Aboriginal communities. Though he could’ve easily moved into senior leadership positions he was only interested in being a practitioner.
Steve and I began collaborating in 1989 when I was working as a family therapist with families referred by the state’s child protection agency. Our collaboration began because Steve wanted to know how the solution-focused and brief therapy models we were using could apply in his statutory role. West Australia being a small place the word soon got around that we were applying systemic practice with child protection. In late 1993, Steve and I were asked to lead the first project to train and support practitioners in ‘our model’. In this way the Signs of Safety was born. A history of the model’s development including an interview with Steve is captured in a 17-minute video, which you can watch below.
Steve was an extraordinary man. Always gentle and kind, focused, thoughtful and determined in anything he did. In his child protection role Steve quickly saw that experienced child welfare officers were his best teachers and always sought the support and guidance of Aboriginal colleagues and community members.
Steve could always hold the two truths at once. He knew that child protection practice and organisation was too often bureaucratic and colonising while also knowing that good relational work that families saw as helpful and positive for them was enacted every day. The rub in the latter is that the good practice usually happened quietly and rarely drew much attention since this work is always uncertain and we continually get over organised by problems and anxiety.
Quite a few times I witnessed practitioners coming to Steve, often worried about their practice and a
specific situation. Steve would listen and at some stage would ask, ‘are you having fun?’ People were often
rather confused, and the question always quietened them. Steve would then say, ‘I’m serious, if you not
having fun you can’t survive in this work’. Steve the sage!
Without Steve there would be no Signs of Safety. Our 12 years of creative collaboration was energising, the foundation for my career in child protection and an incredible privilege. Perhaps better to say it was a
grace.
Steve is survived by his wife, Mandy who he met in the late 1970s when they were both working in Halls Creek. They have two daughters Jacksie and Greta. Steve loved orienting and completed the 20km Rottnest Island Channel swim many 5mes. In their retirement, Steve and Mandy managed the Eyre Bird Observatory, in the desert at Cocklebiddy for six week spells each year. When in Perth, Steve played in a Ukulele Orchestra at a local farmer’s market each Saturday. There is more to say about Steve’s life but let
the part tell the whole.
Since Australia always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land Steve was dedicated to reconciliation, recognition and justice for the traditional owners of the great southern land. Signs of Safety was our effort as two white fellas to offer a risk intelligent and collaborative vision of child protection for a white fella system. In the last decade and half of his career, Steve worked for the Australian Native Title Tribunal as a mediator and manager. In this role Steve was instrumental in facilitating the South-West Native Title Settlement that has been described as 'Australia's First Treaty'.
I write this piece with immense gratitude for Steve’s active, loving, compassionate, intelligent and fully engaged life and the opportunities I had to know and work so closely with him.
Thank you, Steve, you are an inspiration!
