Possible Factors Supporting Cross-Agency Collaboration in Child Abuse Cases: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT

Cross-agency collaboration for responding to child abuse cases is critical for the safety and wellbeing of children. However, working effectively across organizational boundaries can be difficult, especially where there are considerable disciplinary differences. Accordingly, many jurisdictions have put in place policies and processes to support cross-agency collaboration across groups responding to severe child abuse. The aim of this scoping review was to highlight key factors that may influence the quality of cross-agency collaboration in severe child abuse cases. A systematic search comprising 57 empirical studies examining the facilitators and/or barriers to cross-agency collaboration in child abuse cases was undertaken identifying eleven factors. This review found the most commonly cited factor was the need to reconcile the different roles/mandates of workers with their roles in a cross-agency response. A clear cross-agency protocol that establishes agreed procedures was also a commonly cited factor, along with cross-agency training, and communication and information sharing practices. This scoping review highlighted the lack of high-quality evidence that could be used to assess the effectiveness of policies and processes to support cross-agency collaboration for child abuse cases, and targeted areas for future research to enhance the quality of evidence for this common type of program/intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-disciplinary teams
• children’s advocacy center
• child sexual abuse
• collaboration
• scoping review

Disclosure of Interest

Authors Herbert, Ghan, Salveron & Walsh declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

The published study did not involve human participants, so informed consent was not sought.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James Herbert

James Herbert, Australian Centre for Child Protection, Justice & Society University of South Australia; Australia; Nicholas Ghan, Australian Centre for Child Protection, Justice & Society University of South Australia; Australia; Mary Salveron, Australian Centre for Child Protection, Justice & Society University of South Australia; Australia; Wendy Walsh, Crimes against Children Research Centre, University of New Hampshire; Durham, NH.

Nicholas Ghan

Nicholas Ghan is now a PhD student at the School of Psychology, University of South Australia. Mary Salveron is now a Consultant at Emerging Minds.

Mary Salveron

James Leslie Herbert, PhD., MCJ, BA, is Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. Nicholas Ghan, BPsych (Honours), completed Psychology Honours at the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. Mary Salveron PhD, BPsych, was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. Wendy Walsh, PhD., MS, BA, is a Research Associate Professor at the Crimes Against Children Research Centre at the University of New Hampshire.