Working within frames and across boundaries in core group meetings in child protection

The chapter describes how information sharing and multi-agency coordination is established as a central concern of child protection policy and procedure in England. It looks at Core Group Meetings as the ‘control room’ of multi-agency work. The analysis draws on framing and boundary work to explore how professionals from different agencies contribute to multi-agency meetings and examines the activities of the chair in terms of framing turns and topics. It demonstrates how different professionals ensure that their presence is established in the meeting. The conclusion is that managing professional contributions involves complex boundary work by all participants.