Falling Between Minds: The Effects of Unbearable Experiences on Multi-Agency Communication in the Care System

Abstract

Why does well-intentioned policy fail to translate into positive outcomes for children in care? The Government has made significant investment to improve educational attainment and placement stability for looked after children, yet gains have been disappointing and children in care are still achieving far below their peers. Multi-agency working and better communication between professionals are seen as a prerequisite for improving outcomes. Paula Conway explores why this commendable policy recommendation often results in splits, divisions, rivalries and, paradoxically, a failure to communicate within and between services for vulnerable children, sometimes with devastating consequences. Complaints abound and a culture of blame is endemic. Without a deeper understanding of how traumatised young people communicate their disturbance, and how the individuals and systems around the child respond, this well-intentioned policy will always be at risk of breaking down at vulnerable ‘fault lines’; in the system, with children's needs falling into the gaps. It is suggested that, for the project of multi-agency work to be effective in improving outcomes for looked after children, the psychoanalytic concepts of splitting and projection need to be integrated and applied at all levels of policy development and service provision.