IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v109y2020ics0190740919306942.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How everyone’s business can become no one’s business: A systems study of interprofessional referral to child contact centres

Author

Listed:
  • Caffrey, Louise

Abstract

Research suggests that interprofessional working is key to child protection but it is also challenging since misunderstandings and omissions can easily occur. This article explores interprofessional working in referrals to supported child contact services in England. It aimed to understand why procedures and tools introduced to improve interprofessional working in this area failed to have the desired effect. The study adopted a systems approach and involved 58 hours of observations in six case study child contact centres covering both supervised services (which offer a high level of monitoring of contact) and supported services (which provide little oversight). In addition, 47 interviews were conducted with individuals working in centres and solicitor, social worker and judge referrers. The findings demonstrate that cases which could not be safely managed continued to be referred and accepted at supported child contact centres because all actors believed it was someone else’s role to analyse the case and make a decision to accept or reject. Only social worker referrers took responsibility for this role but some social workers continued to refer cases that could not be safely facilitated because they assumed the service provided a higher level of vigilance then existed. The study draws attention to the limits of tools and protocols in enabling safe practice and the importance of exploring the potential for, what I term, ‘systemic role contradictions’.

Suggested Citation

  • Caffrey, Louise, 2020. "How everyone’s business can become no one’s business: A systems study of interprofessional referral to child contact centres," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:109:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919306942
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104661
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919306942
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104661?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Colvin, Marianna L., 2017. "Mapping the inter-organizational landscape of child maltreatment prevention and service delivery: A network analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 352-359.
    2. Devaney, John & Spratt, Trevor, 2009. "Child abuse as a complex and wicked problem: Reflecting on policy developments in the United Kingdom in working with children and families with multiple problems," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 635-641, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lines, Lauren Elizabeth & Kakyo, Tracy Alexis & Hutton, Alison & Mwashala, Winfrida Wilfred & Grant, Julian Maree, 2023. "How are responses to child abuse and neglect conceptualised in Australian policy?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stanley, Nicky & Ellis, Jane & Farrelly, Nicola & Hollinghurst, Sandra & Downe, Soo, 2015. "Preventing domestic abuse for children and young people: A review of school-based interventions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 120-131.
    2. Blanken, Mariëlle & Mathijssen, Jolanda & van Nieuwenhuizen, Chijs & Raab, Jörg & van Oers, Hans, 2023. "Actors’ awareness of network governance in Child Welfare and Healthcare service networks," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 29-36.
    3. Susan Young & Margaret McKenzie & Cecilie Omre & Liv Schjelderup & Shayne Walker, 2014. "Practicing from Theory: Thinking and Knowing to “Do” Child Protection Work," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-23, November.
    4. Caroline McGregor & Carmel Devaney, 2020. "A Framework to Inform Protective Support and Supportive Protection in Child Protection and Welfare Practice and Supervision," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-23, April.
    5. Harri Raisio & Pirkko Vartiainen, 2015. "Accelerating the public’s learning curve on wicked policy issues: results from deliberative forums on euthanasia," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 48(3), pages 339-361, September.
    6. de Haan, Irene & Connolly, Marie, 2014. "Another Pandora's box? Some pros and cons of predictive risk modeling," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P1), pages 86-91.
    7. Debra Strong & Russell Cole & Angela D’Angelo & Juliette Henke & Yange Xue, "undated". "RPG Child and Family Outcomes: Fifth Annual Report to Congress," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 7bfa5cccd7a84c6ba26691d9b, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. Stanley, Nicky & Humphreys, Cathy, 2014. "Multi-agency risk assessment and management for children and families experiencing domestic violence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P1), pages 78-85.
    9. Perez Jolles, Monica & McBeath, Bowen & Collins-Camargo, Crystal & Chuang, Emmeline, 2022. "Organizational complexity within private child welfare agencies in the United States and impact on agency performance outlook," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    10. Bustos, Tatiana E., 2020. "A scoping review of social network analyses in interorganizational collaboration studies for child mental health," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:109:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919306942. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.