Collaboration between child protection and mental health professionals: an empirical research in six European countries

Abstract

Many children accommodated in residential care are in need of psychiatric treatment as well as child protection services, and thus the professional expertise of both sectors must be coordinated in their care. In collaborative work ‘on the borders’, professionals need to draw on perspectives and approaches from a variety of disciplines. Boundary work and the crossing of boundaries are at the core of interprofessional collaboration. Boundary work is related to professional excellence and differences in the distribution of tasks: how experts understand their competences, responsibilities and authority in a particular field in relation to other professionals in the field. The present article is based on a study on interprofessional collaboration between child protection and mental health care professionals in six European countries. In this article we bring together research data on the interface between mental health and residential child care services in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, UK (Scotland) and Spain. In total, 49 individual interviews and 6 focus groups were conducted; overall 59 interviewees participated in this research. Results indicate that welfare states provide a spectrum of services, expertise, programmes and interventions in child protection and mental health sectors to facilitate interprofessional collaboration, but obstacles to cooperation and coordination remain, often related to lack of knowledge, mutual attitudes and ways of communication.