COMPLEXITY AND INTEGRATED CHILDREN’S SERVICES IN THE UK

Year 2010, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 119 - 126, 01.06.2010

Rick Hood

Abstract

Children's services in the UK have been reorganised in recent years in order to focus more
effectively on the needs of children and families. New models of integrated services, such as
children's centres and extended schools, aim to strengthen families through a multi-agency
response to problems in early childhood. This paper explains the context of integrated services in
the UK, explores the research on integration and discusses the implications for collaboration
between professionals.
It is argued that a particular challenge for integrated services is presented by so-called ‘complex
cases’, e.g. children at risk of abuse, who need a range of professionals to work closely together.
Nonetheless, the evidence suggests that collaboration is very difficult to achieve in situations of
high complexity and risk. The policy response so far has been to emphasise IT-based case
management systems, reinforced by tighter managerial and procedural controls. However, this
may be ignoring an opportunity to pool the expertise of professionals in order to find innovative
joint solutions.

Keywords

integrated services, interprofessional working, child protection

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