A collaborative research effort to bridge boundaries and support deviant youths in contemporary welfare systems

This paper analyzes the challenges of introducing new approaches to the care of deviant youths in contemporary welfare systems. The specific study of early intervention programs within the area of psychosocial disturbances will be used to explore the interplay between emerging research results and the introduction of new approaches in different functionally specialized welfare carrying organizations. This paper is based on a collaborative research effort between researchers from education, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, economics and business administration and key actors from schools, police, criminal care, social security administrations, municipal health care and municipal politicians and administrative managers. The paper demonstrates that successful introduction of new coping strategies necessitates significant efforts to support the bridging of boundaries, the challenging of legacies and the learning from evidence to change established structures. European Management Review (2005) 2, 88-99, advance online publication, 3 June 2005 doi:10.1057/palgrave.emr.1500024