effective interagency working and advances made in recent years

Interagency working is where different professionals use their skills to work together in order to reach a common goal and vision (Ovretviet et al, 1997). This is desirable because it provides higher quality service, and a holistic approach towards helping children and families. In addition, interagency working leads to resources being used more effectively (Hallet and Birchall, 1992). Yet, despite this, agencies often fail to collaborate with one another, leading to inadequate service provisions and serious implications to service users. This essay will first look at the reasons behind key failures of interagency working in social work practice, by reviewing some serious case examples in child protection, and will discuss how these challenges can be grappled with. Child protection is very important because the impact of child maltreatment can have profound effects on mental and physical life that can last throughout a life time (Ferguson, 2011). The concern about child protection has grown in recent years which has required professionals to form a range of services to collaborate together (Payne, 2000). The second part of this essay will examine the advances that have been made in interagency working, paying attention to legislation and polices that have been developed in order to cope with these safeguarding issues. However, it will be argued that these policies are inadequate to effectively address interagency working difficulties.
The reasons for interagency failure
Despite the advances that have been made in recent years to promote better interagency working, the child protection system is still under enormous pressure. Since 2008; referrals, assessments, investigations, and the number of children with protection plans have...

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