Interagency collaboration among community organizations serving children and families in child welfare

An analysis of interagency collaboration: Lessons learned from Colorado's early intervention program

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to describe interagency collaboration in Part C Early Intervention (EI) programs.

METHODS

Between 18 April and 9 May 2022, 48 EI service coordinators (SCs) from 14 programs in one state completed adapted versions of the Interagency Collaboration Activities Scale (IACAS) and Relational Coordination Survey (RCS). Assessing perceptions of shared structures (IACAS) and coordination quality (RCS), these combined measures summarized interagency collaboration with 11 organizations. Mean (SD) survey responses were estimated and ranked.

RESULTS

Sample SCs represent a breadth of professional disciples and vary substantially in their current and desired collaborations. The quantity of SCs collaborating with organizations ranged from 0% to 98%. Nearly all (98%) reported collaborating with the school districts, few (15%) reported collaborating with insurance, and none reported collaborating with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The majority of SCs expressed desire to increase their collaborations with most of the listed organizations. The perceived quality of collaborations varied substantially at both individual and organizational levels. When comparing SC perceptions of shared structures and coordination quality, SCs reported more favourable collaborations with school districts (IACAS rank: first and RCS rank: first) and less favourable collaborations with insurance (IACAS rank: ninth and RCS rank: seventh). Some organizations rankings varied across both scales, including pediatric primary care (IACAS rank: third and RCS rank: eighth) and hospitals (IACAS rank: sixth and RCS rank: second). Overall, SCs reported low perceived existence of shared structures while coordination quality varied by organization. Opportunities for collaborative growth were identified.

DISCUSSION

Despite its importance and required implementation in EI, perceptions of interagency collaboration varied substantially within and between EI programs. There is a suggested need to increase the quantity of SCs that collaborate and identified opportunities to increase the quality of collaborations that already exist.

Complexities of protecting children from violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Providers' and policymakers' best practices, innovations and challenges in 12 countries

BACKGROUND

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has put children at an increased risk of neglect, violence and other human rights violations. Despite growing evidence of its impact on child protective services, there has been a dearth of research from low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVE

This cross-sectional qualitative study explored service providers' and policymakers' views and experiences of children's protection, in real-time, in the last quarter of 2020.

METHODS

A smartphone app-based survey containing both open- and closed-ended questions was used. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Eighty-four respondents participated, including service providers, service managers and policymakers, mostly representing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and governments across 12 countries (predominantly Kenya, South Africa and the Philippines).

RESULTS

Most respondents reported their sectors had experienced challenges in protecting children from violence - particularly delays in reporting abuse and pursuing justice, and reaching those living in poor and/or rural areas. Good practices and innovations in children's protection during the pandemic were reported in several domains: advocacy and signposting; justice; health care; education and awareness-raising; children's visibility; and virtual service delivery. Community resources and involvement were also highlighted as vital. The ineffectiveness of child protection laws, policies and organizational responses, however, hindered the implementation of effective practices.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the complexities and interconnectivity of systems, processes and actors and their joint impact on children's protection and rights. Collectively, the findings reinforce the criticality of collaborative, urgent and child-centered responses.

Partnering with families known to child protection in an interprofessional context

BACKGROUND

To meet the diverse needs of children and their families known to child protection, interprofessional collaboration across a range of services is critical. Children and their parents/caregivers are key stakeholders in these collaborations and current research highlights the need to strengthen their participation in these service responses. Practitioners have a critical role in strengthening family member participation in child welfare and protection responses.

OBJECTIVE

To explore professional's experiences and perceptions of working in partnership with children and families known to child protection in an interprofessional context.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

14 professionals with extensive experience in the fields of family support and child protection.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were completed, recorded, transcribed, and then coded using NVivo 12 Pro. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to guide data analysis.

RESULTS

Trusting practitioner-family relationships were affirmed to be critical to engaging and partnering with families. Results pertaining to the interprofessional context encourage a more community-oriented perspective of practitioner-family relationships, where practitioners have a collective responsibility to welcome families into an integrated network of community services. Further, the conflict for child protection practitioners between their legislated role and their need to build trusting relationships with families to support partnered work is discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

The centrality of practitioner-family relationships needs to be better recognized and supported in policy and practice across all sectors supporting children and families known to child protection. An interprofessional approach to building practitioner-family relationships across this range of services may enhance family engagement and partnerships in their service responses.

[Relational dealing with crisis of youth welfare professionals in casework regarding the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic]

There is still little empirical knowledge about the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on the casework of youth welfare offices. However, qualitative studies provide a number of indications on the importance of teamwork, on explicit and implicit ways of acting as well as on decision-making practices (sense-making) of professionals in child protection. These aspects were largely limited by the lockdowns and the pandemic-related protective measures. This leads to the question of the present study about how these restrictions are dealt with and the coping strategies related to them.The analysis is based on the contrastive interpretation of telephone interviews with professionals from two youth welfare offices. From a relational perspective in the sense of Bruno Latour, which does not focus on the actors, but rather on their connections and relations, some transformations in the network in which the cases are usually processed become visible. These transformations were elaborated based on the interviews as crisis-like restrictions of the usual practice of action. In the analyzed data, ways of acting can be reconstructed that can be understood as dealing with these crises. The results show that the actual crisis is not to be found in the abstract idea of a virus pandemic, but above all in the breaking away of case work habits.