The Case of Interagency Coordinating Councils: Examining Collaborations in Services for Children with Disabilities

Abstract

Children with disabilities often require a myriad of services to develop to their full potential. In the current era, centralized services and residential institutions have become less accepted as a matter of course. Interagency Coordinating Councils (ICCs) were created to lead integration of services for children with disabilities in the context of decentralized service provision and a growing preference for person-centered, community based services. In this paper, the Federal ICC and several State ICCs were examined as a case study of the challenges associated with orchestrating multi-level, interagency collaboration. Emergent themes of interorganizational infrastructure, shaping participation, and service purposes and priorities are discussed as important elements of the ongoing creation of a new governance of services for children with disabilities.