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Belgium has experienced widespread change in its public sector. The author describes the structure of community safety provision that has resulted. This article describes research conducted in 4 Belgian cities. It argues for a conflict‐accepting model of partnership where the differing philosophies of the constituent agencies are accepted and where human creativity is respected. Such a model will reduce the problem of differential power relations that can lead to the exclusion of some social groups.

Employs a quasi‐experimental design to assess the operational costs and benefits of a consolidated department. Northern York County Police Department, the experimental group, was consolidated in 1972. Uses a comparison group consisting of eight police departments in a contiguous county in rural Pennsylvania to compare the outcome variables. Finds that whereas reducing costs may be the expected benefit of consolidation other benefits such as more opportunity for training and the use of specialized units were evident.

This paper aims to explore the biodiversity reporting by a state-owned entity responsible for conserving and protecting biodiversity assets in South Africa, the South African National Parks (SANParks) (SOC) Limited.

This study uses content analysis to explore and investigate the disclosure themes in the SANParks reports for the period 2013–2017. The frequency of substantive disclosures is also evaluated over a five-year period. The data are presented graphically in frequency charts and supported by descriptive statistics and univariate correlations for non-normal data. This provides insights into the amount of information being disclosed and the interconnections among biodiversity reporting themes.

SANParks has increased its reporting on biodiversity over time. Disclosures are interconnected and deal with a range of issues, including species at risk of extinction, operational considerations, risk management practices and how SANParks evaluates its environmental performance. The information is detailed and included in different parts of the organisation’s annual reports suggesting a genuine commitment to protecting biodiversity. There are areas for improvement but SANParks frames biodiversity as a central part of its strategy, operations and assurance processes something which would not occur if the disclosures were only about managing impressions.

The study is among the first to explore biodiversity disclosure themes in a state-owned entity in Africa, responsible for the conservation. While the study deals with a specific case entity, the findings are broadly applicable for other organisations keen on constructing a biodiversity account.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the processes and outcomes of a five‐year initiative to develop inter‐agency working between services for vulnerable 10‐ to 18‐year‐olds in a disadvantaged area of Dublin, Ireland.

A case study methodology included: review of documentation on 32 formal meetings of the network; 43 interviews with agency personnel involved in the network; in‐depth review of nine randomly selected cases which had been treated according to the network's agreed protocol of inter‐agency case management.

The initiative created a vibrant inter‐agency process in terms of developing and implementing an agreed protocol for inter‐agency care planning. However, assessment of the outcomes for young people and their families showed that only a few made any improvement. Four reasons are suggested for this relatively modest result: the target group of 10‐ to 18‐year‐olds had experienced neglect and abuse over many years and this made it difficult to achieve positive outcomes for them; the quality and standard of work by some staff in some agencies was questionable; agencies did not seem to include inter‐agency work in assessing their overall performance, or the performance of individual staff; and most agencies did not seem to have adopted an outcome‐oriented, evidence‐based approach to their work.

The paper points out that an effective and inclusive inter‐agency process is necessary but not enough for improving child outcomes; the sufficient condition for improved child outcomes is effective intra‐agency processes to deliver high‐quality services and a policy environment that supports and requires it.

The purpose of this paper is to present an inter-agency practice integrated within a police intervention model which was developed for police officers and their partners in Montréal.

The Integrated Police Response for Abused Seniors (IPRAS) action research project (2013-2016) developed, tested, and implemented a police intervention model to counter elder abuse. Two linked phases of data collection were carried out: a diagnostic of police practices and needs (year 1) and an evaluation of the implementation of the intervention model and the resulting effects (years 2 and 3).

The facilitating elements to support police involvement in inter-agency practices include implementing a coordination structure regarding abuse cases as well as designating clear guidelines of the roles of both the police and their partners. The critical challenges involve staff turnover, time management and the exchange of information. It was recognised by all involved that it is crucial to collaborate while prioritising resource investment and governmental support, with regards to policy and financing, as well as adequate training.

The IPRAS model is transferable because its components can be adapted and implemented according to different police services. A guideline for implementing the model is available.

In the scientific literature, inter-agency collaboration is highly recommended but only a few models have been evaluated. This paper presents an inter-agency approach embedded in an evaluated police intervention model.

We assessed attempts by federal and state agencies to utilize a Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) approach to address endangered species and natural resource protection issues in two watersheds in Washington State involving listed species of salmon, steelhead and bull trout. In the wake of the listing of these species, NOAA Fisheries and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) joined to implement a multi-party collaboration to enforcement termed Resource-Oriented Enforcement (ROE). We sought to determine if federal and state resource agencies can collaborate effectively and if collaborative approaches can achieve short- and long-term resource protection goals. A citizen mail survey (n=800+ in each location) and extensive personal interviews with key actors were conducted to assemble evidence on the degree of success achieved in implementing ROE. Observed results suggest that collaboration can

Mounting evidence of a crisis in mental health care for young people has underlined the need for early and better recognition of mental health difficulties in children. Recent policy suggests that schools and teachers must play a pivotal role in smoother pathways to care. This will necessitate enhanced working relationships between schools and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). However, there is little understanding as to how teachers and mental health professionals currently relate to one another or what difficulties undermine ‘joined up’ care. In this study we examine current systems of collaboration between schools and child and adolescent mental health services, paying particular attention to relationships between schoolteachers and mental health professionals. Data was collected using semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews. Our findings indicate deep‐seated barriers to good collaboration. Moreover, teachers experience significant frustration through feeling excluded from the mental health care management of children despite being affected professionally by such decisions taken, the delays to intervention and poor communication between agencies. Interprofessional trust and mutual suspicion emerged from these interviews as an over‐arching factor. The implications arising from expectations for greater inter‐agency collaboration are discussed.

Although the most prominent guiding concepts in the welfare reforms of the Thatcher years were those of quasi‐markets and competition, there were also significant developments in state planning and co‐operation between agencies. The most obvious expression of this relates to the legal obligation to undertake community care planning, and this has now been supplemented by a parallel requirement to plan services for children. This Case Study looks back at the early experiences of community care planning, looks ahead to the issues which will have to be addressed in the new children's services plans, and teases out the messages for transferred learning. It warns that local inter‐agency planning has no qualities of spontaneous growth or self‐perpetuation, and that without safeguards the process is at risk of becoming marginalised.

This overview of policy and policy implementation is based on three individual papers presented in November 2001, and on their discussion by Fellows of the Centre for Social Policy at Dartington. It critically examines the challenge of ‘joined‐up’ working, and calls for better engagement of parents and children in action to promote social inclusion and improve opportunity. After a detailed general review by Peter Mittler, who led the seminar, specific consideration to the education of children in care is given by Sonia Jackson, and to the prospects for evidence‐based inter‐agency developments by Judy Sebba, who was a guest contributor.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether multi-type child maltreatment is associated with health-risk behaviours and mental ill-health in adolescence.

In total, 406 15-16-year-old students from Maltese schools answered the “Child maltreatment physical and mental health” questionnaire (Nguyen et al., 2010). This assessed demographics, health risk behaviour, mental health and child maltreatment.

Of the four categories of maltreatment measured (physical, sexual, emotional and neglect), 27.4 per cent of the young people experienced one type, 16.6 per cent two types, 11.1 per cent three and 6.5 per cent four. For health-risk behaviours, there were positive relationships between multi-type maltreatment and school fights (r=0.27, p<0.01), breaking school rules (r=0.19, p<0.01), illicit drug use (r=0.14, p<0.05) and alcohol use (r=0.10, p<0.05). As regards mental health, multi-type maltreatment was positively associated with depression (r=0.38, p<0.01) and anxiety (r=0.23, p<0.01), and negatively associated with self-esteem (r=−0.26, p<0.01).

Early recognition of multi-type maltreatment and its consequences enables providers of children's services to offer the required diverse range of services. Additionally, policy makers should ensure the adoption of multi-sectoral and collaborative inter-agency approaches so as to effectively and holistically manage child maltreatment, not only during the acute childhood phase but also during adolescence and adulthood, when consequences are expected to emerge.

This study raises awareness about the prevalence of multi-type child maltreatment in Malta. It also highlights the negative association between cumulative exposure to multi-type child maltreatment and mental health outcomes and risky behaviours.