The Tension between Mainstream Competence and Specialization in Adult Protection: An Evaluation of the Role of the Adult Protection Co-ordinator

With the implementation of No Secrets (Department of Health, 2000),the question of how far to specialize in adult protection hasbeen raised for social services departments. Related issuesinclude the extent of specialization within the vulnerable adultclient groups as well as between adult protection specialistsand other workers. This paper draws on an evaluation of therole of the adult protection co-ordinator across two local authoritysocial services departments (the case study) who share adultprotection policies, protocols and procedures but where thespecialist role has only partially been implemented and hasevolved in different ways. It identifies a number of criticalconsiderations for the local implementation of national policy,including the particular model for adult protection specialization,working relationships with district management and care management,decision making and accountability, adult protection case managementand the development of mainstream competence in adult protection.