Working together for the benefit of children and young people can be achieved by integrated and multi-agency working. It enables different services to join together to offer more effective care for children. Multi-agency work is a key part of the national policy framework for children and young people (2014-2020) Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures being realised. This framework is designed provide strategic direction to order to deliver improved outcomes for all children in their learning and development.
Some of the benefits to working in partnership are:
- Overcome barriers
- Integrate and consolidate services
- Manage transitions smoothly
- Make informed decisions
However, there are also barriers to integrated and multi-agency working:
- Taking direction from a person with different skills expertise
- Different language/terminology
- Not being used to sharing expertise/knowledge
With the benefits and barriers acknowledged, Early Years Practitioners can show leadership be implementing collaborative working into everyday practice which will ensure effective integrated working for the benefit of children and families. As Early Years Practitioners there are a variety of professionals who may work together to support the child such as: Health Professionals (PHN, SLT, OT, Early Intervention Team), Educational Psychologist, colleagues from other early years settings, family support/social workers, Childcare Committee staff and their parents/carers.
So where to start, effective partnerships are built upon common goals for children’s learning and development informed by the needs of each child. To allow all professionals working with a child understand the world of the child and their family; there needs to be a better consideration of the child’s developmental needs, there needs to be an understanding around the parenting capacity and any other family or environmental factors also need to be shared. You can promote this collaborative practice culture by having a working in partnership with parent’s policy in your service and promoting further by developing a working in partnership with professionals policy. By building relationships with local professionals and avail of networking opportunities ensures the voice of the Early Years Practitioner is heard.
There are a lot of resources within the Aistear Síolta Practice guide to support you in working in partnership with parents http://www.ncca.ie/en/Practice-Guide/Building-Partnerships-With-Parents/
