A Template for Family-Centered Interagency Collaboration by Uta

In this paper, it is asserted that successful interagency collaborations require commitment to a shared value base as the core dimension of the joint efforts. A rationale framework that places family-centered principles at the core is provided, and how these principles translate into specific behaviors, attitudes, and policies on all levels within and between organizations is outlined. This template can provide guidance to local and state policy makers involved in reforming systems of care. THE TERMS "family-centered services" and "interagency collaboration" are commonly used to describe preferred reforms to the multiple systems of care that envelop needy children and families. Yet, the two terms are rarely linked together, and their interrelationship has not been fully explored in the literature. Family-centered services have generally been discussed in relationship to behaviors of professionals or to agency and program characteristics within agencies, with scant attention paid to the application of familycentered principles between agencies with respect to interagency councils and other collaboratives at community and state levels. The aim of this article is to provide a rationale and specific framework, or template, for adopting family-centered principles as the core set of values undergirding interagency collaborative efforts. Interagency Collaboration Defined Interagency collaboration is a key strategy in recent efforts to turn fragmented human services into a system that addresses the multiple needs of children and families in a more comprehensive and efficient way. It is closely linked to initiatives of service integration, and the literature shows a growing consensus about the need for interagency collaboration (O'Looney, 1994). Definitions and concepts of interagency collaboration can be found across disciplines and service systems, and in the literature of social serFamilies in Society: The Journal of Contemporary I Copyright 2 0 0 0 Families International, Inc. vices, education, early intervention, mental health, and health care (Hassett &c Austin, 1997; Konrad, 1996; O'Looney, 1994; Swan & Morgan, 1993; Melaville &c Blank, 1991). While the Latin roots of "collaboration" simply translate into "working together," a multitude of definitions and models of interagency collaboration has evolved in recent years (Kagan, 1991, 1993; Kagan & Pritchard, 1996; Urwin & Haynes, 1998; Hassett & Austin, 1997; O'Looney, 1994; Mattessich & Monsey, 1992; Bruner, 1991). Interagency collaboration has been characterized in many ways: as a structure as well as a process (Abramson, & Rosenthal, 1995) ; as both process and attitude (Swan & Morgan, 1993); and as a relationship involving formal and informal components with varying emphases on either aspect (Swan & Morgan, 1993; Konrad, 1996; Harbert, Finnegan, & Tyler, 1997). While Swan and Morgan (1993) correctly point out that the meaning and functional definitions of collaboration continue to be researched, some common conceptual themes and dimensions have emerged. Abramson and Rosenthal (1995), in the Encyclopedia of Social Work, define interagency collaboration as "a fluid process through which a group of diverse, autonomous actors (organizations or individuals) undertakes a joint initiative, solves shared problems, or otherwise achieves common goals. " Characterized by "mutual benefit, interdependence, reciprocity, concerted action and joint production," interagency colnan Services