Inter-agency conflict: an ethnographic study

An ethnographic study using observation and in-depth interviewing of professionals from different organizations, intensively 'shadowed' a small number of alleged child abuse cases as they moved through the service system. A high level of inter-agency conflict was observed and common sources of conflict were: gatekeeping disputes; dispositional disputes; and domain disputes. Dynamics relating to the displacement of hostility on to other agencies in cases in which all the professionals involved felt impo-tent to protect vulnerable children, were also observed. These findings provide some fresh insights and hypotheses into the com-plexity of inter-agency interaction in the field of child protection.