SOCIAL WORKERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INTER-ORGANISATIONAL COLLABORATION IN CHILD AND FAMILY WELFARE

The nature of problems experienced by social workers’ clients has often challenged social workers to collaborate with other organisations (Patel, Hochfeld, & Selipsky, 2008). The concept of collaboration holds much promise, yet this delicate and complex process presents numerous risks of failure, threatening both the process of collaboration and the outcomes being sought. There are many barriers to inter-organisational collaboration. Consequently, there is a need for applicable knowledge and skills in the direct practice of partnership development in social development (Lombard & Van Rensburg, 2001) – inter-organisational collaboration being one form of partnership development. This report explores and describes the concept of inter-organisational collaboration as a social service delivery strategy as very few guidelines exist that could assist in the planning and managing of collaborative partnerships ensuring that it achieves its intended aims and goals of delivering quality social services (Lombard & Van Rensburg, 2001). A relevant theoretical perspective as presented here should inform the process of developing practice guidelines in collaborative approaches