Interagency Collaboration with High-Risk Gang Youth

This study examines the process of collaboration between agencies working with high-risk gang youth. Using semi-structured interviews with direct practitioners and observations of a collaborative event at a juvenile prison, this theory-generating study examined the strengths of and barriers to collaboration between adolescent-serving agencies. Practitioners indicated the importance of communication and cooperation as elements of a successful collaboration. In practice, however, these elements were often replaced by premature termination of collaborative arrangements, blaming other agencies for failure of youth, and diffusion of responsibility (passing the buck). This study proposes agency fear as a factor separating desired from actual practice, and proposes potential causes and outcomes of agency fear.