Maiers, Frances2026-07-062026-07-062026-06-262026-06-26http://hdl.handle.net/1993/39839There are various points of intersection between child welfare and mental health systems. It is vital to understand how these two systems can collaborate to support parents who are experiencing mental health challenges or who have mental health diagnoses. This is of critical importance in the context of Manitoba, Canada, where there are high rates of children in care and an need for increased preventative services for families. Employing a phenomenological approach, this qualitative research aimed to explore the collaborative experiences of both mental health and child welfare social workers in providing services to parents who experience mental health challenges and who are involved with both systems. Twelve participants, all of whom were Registered Social Workers from either mental health or child welfare fields of practice, engaged in semi-structured interviews with the researcher about their collaborative practice experiences. The results conveyed a mixture of experiences and ideas about collaboration. Participants described a variety of collaborative mechanisms and daily practices, including clarification of respective roles and identification of common goals, as being beneficial to collaboration. Professional approaches such as transparency and flexibility were generally preferred by participants as opposed to more rigid or closed off approaches. Participants also described ways by which service mandates between systems can conflict with one another. Gaps in resource availability for parents experiencing mental health were also identified by participants. Factors related to professional knowledge and education were described as impacting participants’ collaborative experiences as well. Many participants emphasized how parental motivation and participation to engage with collaborative services were central to their experiences. Additional social and contextual factors, including stigma and geographical considerations were also described as impacting participants’ collaborative experiences. The findings indicate a need for increased resource efficiency for parents receiving services from either system as well as stronger protocols surrounding interagency collaboration and ongoing professional education, particularly around adult mental health. These findings largely echoed that of past literature on this topic. Future research could benefit from including parents’ experiences with interagency collaboration between mental health and child welfare systems.engParental Mental HealthChild WelfareManitobaMental Health ServicesInteragency CollaborationMental Health Challenges