Interagency collaboration in seven North Carolina counties

This article describes the collaborative efforts of seven North Carolina counties involved in a home visitation program for new mothers. It explores factors that facilitated and impeded collaboration. Program staff reported strong leadership, shared vision, a heterogeneous mix of partners, establishment of trust, a positive attitude, role delineation, and open communication to be factors contributing to successful collaboration. Lack of guidance about how to collaborate, competition between programs and categorical funding, restrictive confidentiality policies that limit cross-agency access to information, and lack of time and energy were major barriers to achieving integrated service delivery systems.