ABSTRACT
From the death of Maria Colwell in the mid-1970s, there have been concerns about how agencies and professionals work together to safeguard the wellbeing of children. A number of subsequent inquiries have expressed similar concerns, including Lord Laming’s 2003 inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié, which exposed significant failings in the coordination of services for children. This chapter will detail the policy and practice context of the study, considering the longstanding drive towards multi-agency work to promote positive outcomes for children and young people, as well as the challenges inherent in such endeavours. It will begin with an account of the reports, reviews, recommendations and legislation that have shaped multi-agency policy and practice from the mid-1970s to the present day. The chapter will then include an exploration of the various models of multi-agency working, including an account of the aims, objectives and working practices of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH teams) that are the focus of the research study. Finally, it will proceed to consider the challenges of multi-agency working. This chapter will focus on the history and policy development of multi-agency working in England, due to this being the statutory context in which the research took place. However, the authors note the variance in work with children and families across the UK.
