Case Study of Interagency Coordinating Councils

Abstract

Children with disabilities often require a variety of services to develop to their full potential. Currently, centralized services and residential institutions have become less accepted as a matter of course. Interagency Coordinating Councils (ICCs) were created to lead integration of services for children with disabilities in the context of decentralized service provision and a growing preference for person-centered, community-based services. In this article, the authors examine the federal ICC and several state ICCs in a case study of the challenges associated with orchestrating multilevel interagency collaboration. Emergent themes of interorganizational infrastructure, the shaping of participation, and service purposes and priorities are discussed as important elements of the ongoing creation of a new governance of services for children with disabilities.