Partnerships

The establishment and maintenance of ChildFirstTM Alaska takes a great deal of partnering and teaming with many organizations that work towards responding and preventing child maltreatment. This starts at the community level with MDT: Multidisciplinary Team.

An MDT is a group of professionals who represent various disciplines and work collaboratively on cases of child maltreatment from the point of report to assure to the most effective coordinated response possible for every child. The purpose of interagency collaboration is to coordinate intervention so as to reduce potential trauma to children and families and improve services, while preserving and respecting the rights and obligations of each agency to pursue their respective mandates. This ineragency collaboration is based on a system response. Collaborate repose begins with case initiation and is promotes through understanding and exploring case issues. Insight from each MDT representative provides the environment for a coordinated, comprehensive, compassionate professional response. Quality assurance is a necessary component of this joint response to review the effectiveness of the collaborative efforts.

From the community level to the the state level and on to the development of ChildFirst™ Alaska, the people for children and families to have the passion and empathy to understand the child’s best interest needs to be at the forefront.

ChildFirst™ is a joint effort by the State of Alaska of Children’s Services, The Alaska Children’s Alliance, The State of Alaska Department of Public Safety, the State of Alaska Department of Law, The University of Alaska Anchorage Child Welfare Academy, Child Advocacy Center Staff and Multidisciplinary Team Members.