101531: Interagency Collaboration

About the Course:

Serving children involved in the child welfare system calls for services and support from a variety of human service and community organizations, which is often a challenging aspect of child welfare casework. Interagency collaboration, a core principle in systems of care, focuses on bringing together and engaging critical stakeholders, such as juvenile justice, mental health, education, law enforcement, and Tribal authorities, in a coordinated and integrated effort to serve children whose needs cross multiple systems. This course, based on an issue of the publication called “A Closer Look” considers the challenges and strategies associated with building and sustaining interagency collaboration in a child welfare driven system.

Journal/Publisher:

National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center

Publication Date:

September 2008

Author

National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center staff

Recommended For:

This course is recommended for health care professionals, especially psychologists, counselors, social workers, and nurses who seek knowledge about ways child care agencies can interact in order to more effectively serve the community. It is appropriate for all levels of participants’ knowledge.

Course Objectives:

1. Define interagency collaboration and explain how it can be effectively utilized in child driven systems of care.

2. Describe the essential elements of interagency collaboration as presented in the course material.

3. Explain and assess the challenges and strategies often faced when attempting to develop effective interagency collaborations.