Does Familiarity Breed Collaborative Practice? Co-Location of Domestic Violence Liaisons in Child Welfare Offices in New Jersey: An Implementation Case Study

Catherine L Cummings, Fordham University

Abstract

This case study describes development, implementation, and impact on collaborative practice, of co-locating liaisons from community-based domestic violence organizations in local child welfare offices in New Jersey. The primary focus is from funding of the initial pilot project in 2008, through mature implementation in early 2014. Qualitative data were obtained via observation, document review, key informant interviews with seven state leaders and seven Domestic Violence Liaisons, and six focus groups with child welfare workers from offices purposively sampled for maximum variability of key factors. Semi-structured interview and focus group guides were employed for data collection. Frameworks of Complex Adaptive Systems and Collaboration for Innovation (Patton, 2011) were used for data analysis. Key factors identified as facilitating collaboration in the context of DVL co-location were: 1) Active Invested Leadership, 2) Visibility of DVLs in Local Offices, 3) Collaborative Engagement, 4) Timely Sharing of Data, and 5) Development of Shared Trauma-Informed Paradigms.

Subject Area

Social work|Individual & family studies

Recommended Citation

Cummings, Catherine L, "Does Familiarity Breed Collaborative Practice? Co-Location of Domestic Violence Liaisons in Child Welfare Offices in New Jersey: An Implementation Case Study" (2019). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI13877584.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI13877584

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