Working with families with parental mental health and/or drug and alcohol issues where there are child protection concerns: inter-agency collaboration

Coates, D

Working with families with parental mental health and/or drug and alcohol issues where there are child protection concerns: inter-agency collaboration

Coates, D

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Child and Family Social Work, 2017, 22 pp. 1 - 10
Issue Date:: 2017-03-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Coates, D https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4463-7615	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-03-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Child and Family Social Work, 2017, 22 pp. 1 - 10	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1356-7500	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/123426
dc.description.abstract	© 2015 Commonwealth of Australia. Child and Family Social Work © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Child abuse commonly occurs within the context of multiple risk factors, in particular parental mental health and/or drug and alcohol problems. As no one agency can address all these factors, inter-agency collaboration is paramount to the protection of vulnerable children, especially in families with a complex array of problems. This paper outlines a range of recommendations to improve collaboration between child protection workers and mental health/drug & alcohol (MH/D&A) clinicians from the perspective of Keep Them Safe-Whole Family Team (KTS-WFT) clinicians. Taking referrals from child protection, the KTS-WFT offers interventions to families with parental MH/D&A problems where there are child protection concerns. As part of a larger evaluation of a KTS-WFT site, 10 KTS-WFT clinicians participated in in-depth interviews. Analysis of the interviews identified collaboration with child protection as a primary theme. Participants reported a number of barriers to effective collaboration; in particular, participants reported challenges with information sharing and confidentiality, inconsistency in terms of the level and style of collaboration, tensions between the different theoretical paradigms that underpin practice for MH/D&A clinicians vs. child protection workers, and insufficient clarity around processes and expectations. Consistent with the identified barriers, primary recommendations to improve collaboration were to improve information sharing, overcome silo ways of thinking, manage risk together more consistently, and develop consistent processes and expectations.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Child and Family Social Work	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1111/cfs.12238	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Social Work	en_US
dc.title	Working with families with parental mental health and/or drug and alcohol issues where there are child protection concerns: inter-agency collaboration	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	22	en_US
utslib.for	1607 Social Work	en_US
utslib.for	1701 Psychology	en_US
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/Midwifery
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	22	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015 Commonwealth of Australia. Child and Family Social Work © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Child abuse commonly occurs within the context of multiple risk factors, in particular parental mental health and/or drug and alcohol problems. As no one agency can address all these factors, inter-agency collaboration is paramount to the protection of vulnerable children, especially in families with a complex array of problems. This paper outlines a range of recommendations to improve collaboration between child protection workers and mental health/drug & alcohol (MH/D&A) clinicians from the perspective of Keep Them Safe-Whole Family Team (KTS-WFT) clinicians. Taking referrals from child protection, the KTS-WFT offers interventions to families with parental MH/D&A problems where there are child protection concerns. As part of a larger evaluation of a KTS-WFT site, 10 KTS-WFT clinicians participated in in-depth interviews. Analysis of the interviews identified collaboration with child protection as a primary theme. Participants reported a number of barriers to effective collaboration; in particular, participants reported challenges with information sharing and confidentiality, inconsistency in terms of the level and style of collaboration, tensions between the different theoretical paradigms that underpin practice for MH/D&A clinicians vs. child protection workers, and insufficient clarity around processes and expectations. Consistent with the identified barriers, primary recommendations to improve collaboration were to improve information sharing, overcome silo ways of thinking, manage risk together more consistently, and develop consistent processes and expectations.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/123426