Call for abstracts for a Special Issue

Topic: Concept, practice and governance of multi-agency provision in individualised disability support

Individualised funding and marketisation are dominant features of disability support, intended to deliver choice and control. Yet these bring the challenges of multi-agency provision and how to monitor and manage quality and risk to avoid failures in practice. Ultimately, solutions reside in effective models of disability support governance and the balance of personal and public responsibilities for multi-agency provision in a market environment.

Professor Michele Foster (The Hopkins Centre, Griffith University, Australia), Dr Eloise Hummell (The Hopkins Centre, Griffith University), Professor Catherine Needham (University of Birmingham, UK) and Professor Karen Fisher (Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW, Australia) are inviting contributions on this topic to a forthcoming special issue proposal to a highly ranked international social science journal.

The focus of this special issue will be the concept, practice, and governance of multi-agency provision of individualised disability support. This call is open to submissions based on recent research and empirical data that focuses on the service organisational level and individualised disability support. There should be emphasis on the experiences and challenges of quality personalised service provision when multiple providers of support for children and young people, working age adults and older people are involved (including across sectors and systems), and the implications for effective governance of quality and risk management in individualised disability support.

Some key topics the special issue will aim to address are:

• Conceptualising multi-agency provision and governance challenges in marketised sectors
• Benefits and shortcomings of different governance models of multi-agency provision
• Organisational strategies, including preventive measures to engender collaborative multi-agency practice and to mitigate risk and failures in quality
• Person-focused control and practices for effective multi-agency provision
• Policy tools and empirical evidence of effective governance of multi-agency provision to benefit people with disabilities
   

We invite interested authors to submit a structured abstract (up to 300 words) and short bio by 28 February 2021 via email to e.hummell@griffith.edu.au. Criteria for selection will include relevance, originality and quality of the conceptual or empirical contribution to multi-agency provision of individualised support in a marketised sector. Notifications of acceptance will be sent via email by 8 March 2021.

Selected authors will be invited to participate in a half-day, online forum on 28 April 2021 to present and discuss their abstracts. Further details to be confirmed.

Key due dates

28 February 2021 - Abstract submission 
28 April 2021 - Presentation on abstract topic and discussion
30 July 2021 - Initial full draft of paper
30 September 2021 - Final draft of paper for submission to journal