Inter-agency collaboration for effective safeguarding
SAFEGUARDING RESPONSE
Effective safeguarding is dependent on input from a range of people, including the disabled person (or Adult at Risk), their whānau / family members, and various professionals who bring specific experience and expertise.
The way these team members collaborate is a key factor in achieving the right outcomes.
Note: If you’re new to safeguarding, find out more about multi-agency teams.
This guidance supports workforce capability by providing a framework for effective collaboration.
It helps practitioners and agencies work together safely, consistently and in ways that keep the person’s safety, rights, and voice at the centre.
It helps keep whānau and family closely connected with the process, if that’s the will and preference of the disabled person / Adult at Risk.
It supports a focus on quality processes to enable good outcomes.
It supports services needing practical guidance on establishing multi-agency safeguarding practice.
Introduction
Where multi-agency teams are set up for success and led well:
The right people are involved.
Everyone’s input matters.
It’s acknowledged that everyone brings expertise to the mahi (work):
The disabled person (supported by their whānau/family, if they wish) are recognised as experts in their lived experience and the situation of concern. They are kept at the centre of the process.
The professionals involved bring specialist skills.
Each person brings a particular insight to the safeguarding need.
Collectively, the team utilises this to develop the right safeguarding response.
This guidance will help you achieve these, along with the other key benefits of collaboration, including:
a shared understanding of risk
co-ordinated safety planning
agreed actions and accountability
follow-up and review
sustainable outcomes.
Where collective expertise is involved in safeguarding, problem-solving stops becoming the responsibility of one agency, and is shared.
There’s evidence that these shared inputs and accountability enable better decision-making, and better outcomes for people.
This is shown in the following case study.
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.
Waitematā case study –
benefits of multi-agency teams
A SAFA pilot in Waitematā in 2016 demonstrated that joint efforts among Police, health services, and community organisations lead to faster, safer decisions and fewer gaps in support:
Multi-agency teams created clearer roles and shared ownership.
Better outcomes were achieved, with people less likely to remain in unsafe situations or less likely to find themselves in ‘repeat situations’.
The approach was especially effective for disabled people, older adults, and those with complex needs who might otherwise be overlooked by single services.
The pilot was evaluated in 2017, and the results have been summarised for a rapid read:
What helps team members work well together?
Wherever teams need to navigate complexity, a range of expertise and viewpoints is needed to find the right safeguarding response.
Although striving for the same goal, different people and professions will naturally have different perspectives on the problem to be solved and how to direct the path forward.
When leading this diverse team, your SAFA Co-ordinator will need skills and experience in facilitation, active listening and leadership, and a commitment to keeping the Adult at Risk at the centre of the safeguarding response.
It helps if everyone understands their role, and the roles of others.
It’s recommended that clear ground rules be in place from the outset.
This enables a shared understanding and provides for clarity and efficiency, and a path for resolving differences.
All projects, including those developing a safeguarding response, run much more effectively when roles and responsibilities are clear.
Ideally, these ground rules would be available to all team members and governance roles, through agreed Terms of Reference (ToR).
As part of the ToR, Principles of Collaboration provide helpful anchor-points for the group.
If your organisation is still developing the practice of using Terms of Reference for multi-agency teams, the Principles of Collaboration can be used in the interim and then included in the ToR.
More information is provided below.
Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference set out how the members of a multi-agency team will work together on a safeguarding response. It’s a short document that explains the purpose, membership, roles, responsibilities, decision-making processes, and information-sharing arrangements for the multi-agency team, and how they will track progress and achieve and record results.
Terms of Reference should describe:
the team’s purpose
who’s involved - and what each person or agency is responsible for
how the team will keep the disabled person’s safety, rights, and voice at the centre
principles of collaboration
how information will be shared
what outcomes are being sought and how they will be measured
how progress will be tracked
how decisions will be made and how disagreements will be managed
how transition planning and follow-up will enable the outcomes to be sustained.
It’s recommended that DAPAR service providers develop Terms of Reference to guide their multi-agency teams, as a ‘good practice’ governance tool for showing how the collaboration will work safely and transparently, and to help achieve measured, consistent and sustainable outcomes.
Principles for inter-agency collaboration
Principles of Collaboration guide SAFA Co-ordinators and multi-agency team members in how to work effectively together.
The principles will help the team stay united and go forward, when there are diverse views (for example, on matters such as how to proceed and who should be involved in the decision-making).
Ko koe ki tēnā, ko ahau ki tēnei kīwai o te kete.
You take that handle of the basket, and I’ll take this one.
The principles should also help you to be responsive to cultural needs, ensuring your practices are mana-enhancing and uphold tikanga.
You can access sample Principles below, to guide you.
Once you’ve prepared the principles:
Discuss and finalise these with the multi-agency team, at the outset.
Provide the final copy to each team member.
Incorporate them into your Terms of Reference for multi-agency teams, if you have them.
Understanding roles and responsibilities
VisAble has developed:
a hand-out on Principles of Collaboration that can be used directly with your multi-agency teams, or as a sample for developing your own principles.
A hand-out on how members can work well together – outlining key roles and responsibilities and enabling a shared understanding of these.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
My strength is not mine alone, but the strength of many.
For your action:
Reflect on collaborative practice and what your personal strengths are, that you can bring to a multi-agency team. Consider what areas you’d like to develop when participating in the team.
Ensure that there are Principles of Collaboration; clarity of roles and responsibilities; and, ideally, Terms of Reference to guide your multi-agency team.
Refresh on the key concepts covered in this web page by watching this short video:
This video was produced by ProTrainings.UK in the United Kingdom
The video promotes the value of multi-agency teams and encourages the use of collaborative frameworks and principles to help with communication- and decision- blockers.
Note: at the time of uploading this UK video to VisAble’s website, viewers were able to watch it once, for free. ProTraining has signalled that this might change to a paid service in future.
Access to training
VisAble offers interactive training to help you develop a deeper understanding of these topics and why they’re important.
The training enables you to explore how to apply the information at your place, with your staff (kaimahi) and in your services, to help you achieve the right safeguarding outcomes.
We can also provide advice or training for tāngata whaikaha Māori, disabled people, families, whānau and caregivers.
Contact VisAble if you need:
support with developing your Terms of Reference for establishing effective multi-agency teams.
guidance and coaching on how to convene, lead and co-ordinate a multi-agency team.
Find out more about our training and resources. Or contact us at info@visable.co.nz.