Multi-Agency Working
Integrated services and multi-agency working
It’s self-evident that people not talking to each other is counterproductive. And, in the world of children’s services, it’s been said many times (and ought to be again, lest we forget): not talking to each other sometimes leads to disastrous consequences, of which little Victoria Climbie’s death will forever be a sad example.
So, the multi-agency approach to supporting children, young people and families with extra help, early, makes perfect sense. It’s the most obvious way for children’s professionals to avoid ‘talking past each other’, and gives them vital information that helps them co-ordinate their actions around children’s and families’ needs, so they can reach common understandings. This approach is putting the ‘swift and easy’ into families’ access to services, which will allow agencies to go that extra mile for them. And, because families are involved in multi-agency discussions and decisions, the days of people feeling ‘done to’ are, hopefully, coming to an end.
A point made by Casey Stengel, a famous baseball player, however, might well apply to multi-agency working: ‘Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ‘em to play together is the hard part’. While children’s professionals of all hues are learning how to communicate with and understand each other better, and to work systematically, the hard part of multi-agency work is also being supported and driven forward by: co-ordinated, regular analyses of the needs of vulnerable people in schools and communities; using up-to-date data; using the new and evolving tool called the common assessment framework (CAF); and the expertise of people in ‘lead professional’ positions, whose clearly defined role is to support, lead and co-ordinate this collaboration between children’s services practitioners.
In this way, families are being helped to be more receptive to early assistance and to take a more active role themselves by working alongside professionals to
It’s self-evident that people not talking to each other is counterproductive. And, in the world of children’s services, it’s been said many times (and ought to be again, lest we forget): not talking to each other sometimes leads to disastrous consequences, of which little Victoria Climbie’s death will forever be a sad example.
So, the multi-agency approach to supporting children, young people and families with extra help, early, makes perfect sense. It’s the most obvious way for children’s professionals to avoid ‘talking past each other’, and gives them vital information that helps them co-ordinate their actions around children’s and families’ needs, so they can reach common understandings. This approach is putting the ‘swift and easy’ into families’ access to services, which will allow agencies to go that extra mile for them. And, because families are involved in multi-agency discussions and decisions, the days of people feeling ‘done to’ are, hopefully, coming to an end.
A point made by Casey Stengel, a famous baseball player, however, might well apply to multi-agency working: ‘Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ‘em to play together is the hard part’. While children’s professionals of all hues are learning how to communicate with and understand each other better, and to work systematically, the hard part of multi-agency work is also being supported and driven forward by: co-ordinated, regular analyses of the needs of vulnerable people in schools and communities; using up-to-date data; using the new and evolving tool called the common assessment framework (CAF); and the expertise of people in ‘lead professional’ positions, whose clearly defined role is to support, lead and co-ordinate this collaboration between children’s services practitioners.
In this way, families are being helped to be more receptive to early assistance and to take a more active role themselves by working alongside professionals to