Chapter 4 Boundary crossing

Child safeguarding has come to the forefront of public debate in the UK in the aftermath of a series of highly publicised incidents of child sexual exploitation and abuse. These have exposed the inadequacies and failings of inter-organisational relations between police and key partners. While th...

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Hauptverfasser: Crawford, Adam, L’Hoiry, Xavier
Format: Online
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Taylor & Francis 2021
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author Crawford, Adam
L’Hoiry, Xavier
author_browse Crawford, Adam
L’Hoiry, Xavier
author_facet Crawford, Adam
L’Hoiry, Xavier
author_sort Crawford, Adam
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Child safeguarding has come to the forefront of public debate in the UK in the aftermath of a series of highly publicised incidents of child sexual exploitation and abuse. These have exposed the inadequacies and failings of inter-organisational relations between police and key partners. While the discourse of policing partnerships is now accepted wisdom, progress has been distinctly hesitant. This paper contributes to understanding both the challenges and opportunities presented through working across organisational boundaries in the context of safeguarding children. It draws on a study of relations within one of the largest Safeguarding Children partnerships in England, developing insights from Etienne Wenger regarding the potential of ‘communities of practice’ that innovate on the basis of everyday learning through ‘boundary work’. We demonstrate how such networked approaches expose the differential power relations and sites of conflict between organisations but also provide possibilities to challenge introspective cultures and foster organisational learning. We argue that crucial in cultivating effective ‘communities of practice’ are: shared commitment and purpose; relations of trust; balanced exchange of information and resources; mutual respect for difference; and an open and mature dialogue over possible conflicts. Boundary crossing can open opportunities to foster increased reflexivity among policing professionals, prompting critical self-reflection on values, ongoing reassessment of assumptions and questioning of terminology. Yet, there is an inherent tension in that the learning and innovative potential afforded by emergent ‘communities of practice’ derives from the coexistence and interplay between both the depth of knowledge within practices and active boundaries across practices.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-320172025-07-30T10:20:59Z Chapter 4 Boundary crossing Crawford, Adam L’Hoiry, Xavier Child safeguarding organisational bounderies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services Child safeguarding has come to the forefront of public debate in the UK in the aftermath of a series of highly publicised incidents of child sexual exploitation and abuse. These have exposed the inadequacies and failings of inter-organisational relations between police and key partners. While the discourse of policing partnerships is now accepted wisdom, progress has been distinctly hesitant. This paper contributes to understanding both the challenges and opportunities presented through working across organisational boundaries in the context of safeguarding children. It draws on a study of relations within one of the largest Safeguarding Children partnerships in England, developing insights from Etienne Wenger regarding the potential of ‘communities of practice’ that innovate on the basis of everyday learning through ‘boundary work’. We demonstrate how such networked approaches expose the differential power relations and sites of conflict between organisations but also provide possibilities to challenge introspective cultures and foster organisational learning. We argue that crucial in cultivating effective ‘communities of practice’ are: shared commitment and purpose; relations of trust; balanced exchange of information and resources; mutual respect for difference; and an open and mature dialogue over possible conflicts. Boundary crossing can open opportunities to foster increased reflexivity among policing professionals, prompting critical self-reflection on values, ongoing reassessment of assumptions and questioning of terminology. Yet, there is an inherent tension in that the learning and innovative potential afforded by emergent ‘communities of practice’ derives from the coexistence and interplay between both the depth of knowledge within practices and active boundaries across practices. 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2019-10-17 13:50:53 2020-04-01T10:21:32Z 2019 chapter 1005009 OCN: 1135846689 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/25085 9780429060687 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/32017 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/25085/1/9780367182915_oachapter4.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/25085/1/9780367182915_oachapter4.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/25085/1/9780367182915_oachapter4.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/25085/1/9780367182915_oachapter4.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 Policing Across Organisational Boundaries 9780429060687 Routledge 20 open access
spellingShingle Child safeguarding
organisational bounderies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services
Crawford, Adam
L’Hoiry, Xavier
Chapter 4 Boundary crossing
title Chapter 4 Boundary crossing
title_full Chapter 4 Boundary crossing
title_fullStr Chapter 4 Boundary crossing
title_full_unstemmed Chapter 4 Boundary crossing
title_short Chapter 4 Boundary crossing
title_sort chapter 4 boundary crossing
topic Child safeguarding
organisational bounderies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services
topic_facet Child safeguarding
organisational bounderies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKS Social welfare and social services
url 1005009
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