Christine Hallett is Professor of Social Policy and Chair of the Department of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Scotland. She has written extensively in the area of child protection policy, child inquiries and inter-professional communication. In 1992, in conjunction with Elizabeth Birchall, she completed a major review of the literature on the issue of co-ordination in child protection work. It has formed the basis for a research study funded by the Department of Health Into inter-agency and professional co-ordination in the practice and policies of child protection.

This interview was conducted whilst I was on a study tour of Great Britain supported by a Creswick Foundation Fellowship in Family Relations and Child Development and the Department of Social Work, Monash University. In the interview, Christine discusses her views about the efficacy of co-ordination, its drawbacks and the policy implications for emphasising the importance of inter-agency co-ordination in protecting children.