Multi-disciplinary teams responding to child abuse: Common features and assumptions

The physical and sexual abuse of children is a complex social issue that often requires a multi-disciplinary response; an alliance between police, child welfare authorities, mental health, medical examiners, and advocates for children and their non-abusive caregivers. Previously published reviews have identified deficits in the rationale for multi-disciplinary approaches to child abuse; a mismatch between the intention of systems to address the wellbeing of children post-disclosure, and their design which overwhelmingly focuses on the needs of the criminal justice system. This article aims to present a collective program logic from models identified in the research literature, reflecting the collective rationale in use among multi-disciplinary teams responding to child abuse. The logic highlights that the rationale for multi-disciplinary teams relies heavily on referral to external services and programs to improve the wellbeing of children and families affected by abuse. This article will add to the conceptual development, planning and evaluation of multi-disciplinary teams by elucidating common assumptions about the connection between mechanisms and outcomes across approaches. Articulating the assumptions underlying this common approach will assist program developers with designing interventions that are appropriately targeted and result in meaningful improvements to multi-disciplinary approaches and suggests critical areas for further research to improve understanding of the effects of multi-agency components.