A review of effectiveness of interagency collaboration at the early intervention stage

Wat is het?

Een evaluatie van de effectiviteit van de interdepartementale samenwerking in een vroeg interventie fase.

Deze evaluatie werd uitgevoerd door "de Kinderen en Jongeren Partnerschap - Raad van Volksgezondheid en Sociale Zorg" in opdracht van het Vroege Interventie Transformatie Programma.

Waarom is het belangrijk

The case for early intervention is very strong. The evidence for interagency collaboration in its delivery is weak in terms of outcomes for children, young people and families. Regardless, there is consensus that it is the best model for delivering early intervention and that it will solve the problems of service fragmentation. Interagency collaboration in the provision of early intervention programmes is proposed as a way of providing early identification of vulnerable children. This is largely based on the recognition of lack of interagency collaboration and information sharing being a significant contributing factor in cases of serious harm. There is no firm evidence that interagency collaboration does in fact lead to early identification of vulnerability.

Hoe gebruiken

From the eight reviews of interagency collaboration selected for this review, a range of benefits are identified and categorised into those for children, young people and families; those for professionals, and those for agencies. Most are what would be regarded as process measures or soft outcomes. Some would view them as interim outcome measures, which increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for children, young people and families. However, despite some ‘promising’ findings, there is no firm evidence of impact on long-term outcomes. The issue of sustainability of impact is raised, with positive outcomes often being short-lived. Some of the negative consequences of interagency collaboration are also described.