Interprofessional collaborations in child welfare: providers’ experiences

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the experiences of providers collaborating with child welfare workers using the Quality of Collaboration with Child Welfare (Q-CCW) survey. The findings reveal a significant misalignment between the perceived importance of collaboration and providers’ actual satisfaction levels. Despite high valuations of collaboration, participants from a range of professions expressed dissatisfaction with the responsivity and professionalism of workers. They were slightly more satisfied with relational elements of the collaborations. Participants further indicated that their experiences led to poorer outcomes and decreased willingness to continue working on child welfare cases. Providers’ responses underscores the need for improvements in collaborative practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Child welfare
• interprofessional collaboration
• providers
• outcomes
• retention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen Zilberstein

Kare Zilberstein is a Clinical Director at A Home Within.

Jeff Gau

Jeff Gau is an Associate Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute in Springfield, Oregon.

Adam Brown

Adam Brown, LCSW, PhD, is assistant professor of social work at Hunter College, City University of New York.

J Burton

J Burton, LCSW is an outpatient clinician at Clinical and Support Options.

Ally Jordan Hatcher

Ally Jordan Hatcher is a graduate of McGill Univeristy and Clinical Research Associate at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles.