Final Report INCh BRAIN

In this research, we zoom in on twenty local networks that are installed in the fight against child poverty of which nine are located in Flanders, eight in Wallonia and three in Brussels. We look into the network governance, the network structures and the organization of these networks. We also gain insight into the experiences and perspectives of families in poverty, policy makers and social workers when collaborating in these networks. We conduct in-depth interviews with social workers, families in poverty, policy makers, network coordinators and network partners. Our results indicate that there is a large amount of vertical complexity within these networks and that the role that the network coordinator adopts should be adapted to the different characteristics of the network. On the other hand, we also find that networks can include or exclude families in poverty even more and that networks too often develop child-oriented services while they should focus more on family-oriented strategies. Our study provides recommendations on macro, meso and micro-level.