Research Forum

In the funded project “Shaping cooperation – networks in municipal child protection,” scientists at the Erfurt University of Applied Sciences are working together with practitioners to analyze and further develop cooperation between various institutions in municipal child protection. The research project, headed by Prof. Dr. Jörg Fischer, is being funded for a three-year period with around €145,000.

Protection of children is a central responsibility of society. In 2012, following several tragic events, the Federal Child Protection Act (BKiSchG) created a binding legal framework for cooperation: It prescribed collaboration between youth welfare, education, health, police, justice, and independent agencies in order to prevent threats to the welfare of children.

Despite the existing legal framework, empirical data and practical experience reveal a clear need for action, since the rate of child endangerment is constantly increasing. Along with the growing number of reported incidents, the complexity of individual cases is also rising. Dealing with this situation calls for close coordination between various professions and institutions, which however is unfortunately often hampered due to an unclear allocation of responsibilities and a lack of communication. As a consequence of this fragmentation, crisis situations for children and adolescents can be recognized too late, so that adequate protection cannot be provided.

Closing this gap calls for empirical knowledge as to how cooperation actually succeeds in municipal contexts, what factors stabilize or hinder it, and how the legal requirements can be transformed into actual practice. Networking in the sense of an organized, institutionalized consortium of protagonists constitutes a steering instrument that is geared towards joint attainment of objectives, coordinated decision-making processes, and an equal distribution of power.

The aim of this three-year funded project is to empirically investigate the implementation of legal requirements for cooperation. Factors that can make or break successful collaboration are to be identified and theoretically categorized in order to derive practice-oriented guidelines for the systematic implementation of municipal networks for child protection. Thanks to its close exchange with politics and professional practice, along with participatory research, the project contributes to the reinforcement of evidence-based, sustainable child protection practice.