Implementing differential responses to domestic violence and child protection: practitioner perspectives on an inter-agency collocation trial

This paper concerns inter-agency working at the intersection of child protection practice and domestic and family violence (DFV). Children from families in which DFV occurs are more likely to experience other forms of abuse than their peers. However, it has only been in the last 20 years that DFV has become a key policy issue and focus in child protection practice. Despite this, the response of child protection systems to DFV has been critiqued as inadequate and punitive to mothers. Following inquiries into both the child protection system and DFV sector in Queensland (Australia), where this study occurs, the government has introduced a suite of policy reforms to the child protection system and DFV sector. Central to these reforms is a focus on shared responsibility for child wellbeing, perpetrator accountability and inter-agency responses. This paper explores the perspectives of child protection and DFV practitioners that were involved in the piloting of a differential response, in which DFV specialists were collocated within branch offices of the statutory child protection authority. It focuses on the question: “what factors shape the implementation of an inter-agency differential response to child protection cases involving DFV?” The findings discussed in this paper are drawn from: in-depth interviews with DFV practitioners and team leaders from the child protection authority (n=6); and survey data from child protection practitioners (n=9). Factors that were perceived to shape the implementation of the differential response were: 1) beliefs about the need for differential response; 2) governance, communication and champions; 3) efficient mechanisms for accessing case-information; 4) balancing collocation with role flexibility; and 5) the ‘double-edged sword’ of interpersonal connection. This presentation outlines how these factors can be translated at the macro, meso and micro level to inform and support the implementation of inter-agency differential responses.