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

Abstract

Transformational change to address adversity and nurture resilience requires deep and sustained community collaborations. Interagency collaboration is critically important for child welfare especially during crisis situations. It is clear that when agencies focus on strengths and promote protective factors (individual, familial and community-level) in time, negative consequences of maltreatment are reduced and wellbeing outcomes are enhanced. However, limited research is available to effectively inform community organizations and collective impact initiatives about how they can strengthen interagency collaboration and collaborative practice. Furthermore, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic elevates the urgency to understand how community organizations work together to serve children and families as it threatens access to safety nets. This mixed methods study examined interagency collaboration among community organizations in a collective impact workgroup focussed on children and families involved in the child welfare system. Results revealed key strengths to collaboration (e.g., strong connections, resource sharing, resilience in staff, more vulnerable children accessing resources and more adults engaged in serving this population)as well as barriers to collaboration (e.g., group composition, funding and lack of clarity/focus). Results also revealed specific ways in which this pandemic has impacted efforts to serve children and families in child welfare. Findings highlight an approach that might assist interagency collaboratives. In

The impact of COVID‐19 on teachers' transition practices for students with disabilities in Illinois, USA

“…These findings are corroborated by Kothari et al. (2022) who found that participants from community organisations mentioned noteworthy and positive impacts brought on by the pandemic such as unanticipated opportunities to learn new skills and increase creativity with regard to providing services to children and families. Their findings indicated clear strengths to collaboration among community organisations focused on child welfare (e.g., strong connections, resource sharing, resilience in staff, more vulnerable children accessing resources and more adults engaged in serving this population).…”

“…Similarly, practices in the Interagency Collaboration domain such as 'coordinating interagency agreements between schools and outside agencies' and 'collaborating with agencies to share funding and staffing for transition services' and practices in the Leadership and Policy domain such as 'ensuring teachers implement federal and state policies related to transition' and 'using evidence based practices and research to develop transition programs' could fall within the same rationale. These findings are corroborated by Kothari et al (2022) who found that participants from community organisations mentioned noteworthy and positive impacts brought on by the pandemic such as unanticipated opportunities to learn new skills and increase creativity with regard to providing services to children and families. Their findings indicated clear strengths to collaboration among community organisations focused on child welfare (e.g., strong connections, resource sharing, resilience in staff, more vulnerable children accessing resources and more adults engaged in serving this population).…”

Effective child well-being practices, barriers and priority actions: survey findings from service providers and policymakers in 22 countries during COVID-19

“…The current findings about the centrality of organisational agility and community involvement and the need for improved stakeholder collaboration cohere with Masten and Motti-Stefanidi’s (2020) multi-system resilience perspective, whereby children’s capacity to respond adaptively to adversity is contingent upon the interconnected influence of supportive organisations, communities, peers and families. Those dispersed and relational aspects of resilience, and particularly its fragility during emergencies, are acutely evident upon dissecting the successes and failures in, and lessons learned from, intersectoral collaboration (Kothari et al , 2022; Gilson et al , 2017). While the present study highlights its centrality and dynamics, future research should more systematically examine the mechanisms underpinning intersectoral and interagency collaboration and their impact on organisational and individual resilience (Jewett et al , 2021; Kothari et al , 2022; Ortenzi et al , 2022).…”

“…Those dispersed and relational aspects of resilience, and particularly its fragility during emergencies, are acutely evident upon dissecting the successes and failures in, and lessons learned from, intersectoral collaboration (Kothari et al , 2022; Gilson et al , 2017). While the present study highlights its centrality and dynamics, future research should more systematically examine the mechanisms underpinning intersectoral and interagency collaboration and their impact on organisational and individual resilience (Jewett et al , 2021; Kothari et al , 2022; Ortenzi et al , 2022). As Gilson and colleagues (2017, p. 2) argue, “[r]esilience is not a function of what a system has but of what it does and how it does it”.…”

Advancing science and creating a scientifically informed community at JCASP

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