What does collaboration mean anyway? We seem to use that word so frequently in the social services field, yet we seem to be missing the true meaning of the word. My experience as a director of a foster care program is that when another agency, usually Child Protective Services, talks about collaborating, it usually means they are expecting us to attend a meeting. In these meetings information is shared, then attendees are given an opportunity to provide some feedback about the presented information, and at the end everyone goes off in their own direction, usually disgruntled, frustrated or just confused.

How can we collaborate more successfully? I have identified five ingredients necessary when setting the tone for true collaboration:

(1) There must be an agreement between the parties who are collaborating that there is a need and that each party will benefit from the effort.

(2) There must be a transparent process where there is open, genuine communication going on, not just lip service and then pushing one’s agenda forward despite the feedback.

(3) Individuals involved in collaboration need to use their best active listening skills. If we don’t understand each other than we might actually be working against each other unwittingly!

(4) Be ready for conflict – It’s part of relationship development. If conflict is done in a respectful way then more energy is released for true collaboration. Relationships usually improve when the conflicts are resolved.

(5) Be ready for good results when true collaboration is happening!!!! It’s true that together we can achieve more. Of course that means really joining together not just meeting together.

I would love to hear your feedback on this topic and on your experiences with successful collaboration.

I am so excited to be here and I want to take this opportunity to talk about my focus for this blog.  I have been working in a private non-profit social service agency focused on foster care and adoption for the past fourteen years.  Prior to that I worked for twelve years within the public state child protective services (CPS) system providing similar types of services.   I have discovered that it is more difficult to adequately serve foster children and their families in the private non-profit social service arena without the colloboration with the CPS system, which functions as the legal guardian for these children.  I am interested in forging better collaboration between the CPS system and the private social service agencies who are basically serving the same purpose: providing substitute care for abused and neglected children, keeping them safe from harm, helping them heal from abuse and neglect, and moving them towards permanency.

I have worked hard to develop strong working relationships with the CPS system believing that relationships are the key to working more effectively together.  I am having more difficulty navigating successfully within the Texas Department and Family Services system than I had working with their counterpart system in New Mexico.  I am certain that the difference in size between the two states has something to do with the additional challenges.  One of the key ingredients for successful collaboration is good communication.  This seems to be missing between the private not-profit sector and CPS, leaving the private non-profit sector struggling to get basic information about the foster child that they have been charged to care for in one of their licensed foster homes.  For example: What is the plan for visitation with the family? When is the child going home? Why was the child placed into care to begin with?  What is the child’s medical and educational needs? This is a common disconnect experienced by both foster parents and agency staff who work within private non-profit agencies focused on foster care and adoption. It seems difficult to request the information necessary to provide adequate services without creating  conflict with the state’s CPS workers.  While in New Mexico, I was successful in forging good colloboration with the public child welfare system  and I desire to do so again here in Texas. My dream is to support a child welfare system that collaborates with the private provider community in order to develop resources and solutions for children and their families.