Multi-agency Working in the Early Years: Challenges and Opportunities

What does working in partnership look like in practice?

Getting multi-agency working right is an exciting but challenging goal in early years care and education; this book suggests ways to draw together the different professional ideas, methods, and targets.

Enhancing the delivery of services to children, parents, and communities is essential if we are to address the detrimental effects of poverty and exclusion. Looking at the Birth to 8 age range, and drawing on interviews with Children′s Centre leaders, the book considers:

• The benefits, and complexities, of multi-agency working
• What enables, and impedes, good practice
• Examples of successful multi-agency working
• Leadership and management in multi-agency settings
• What the ′new professionals′ look like

Suitable for all early years practitioners working in, or organizing, multi-agency practice at any level, this book is also relevant to all those working in children′s services and to students of early childhood.