• increases in family and community surveillance and power inequities (270);
• imposition of values and norms by both agency members and clients/residents (271-273).

In addition to these concerns, some literacy coordinators fear that partnerships could result in rising expectations for their workload:

The only thing I worry somewhat about is that the government likes this idea of collaborations themselves. They're going to put more of it on the community level, and they're going to tire people out so much that…. We'll see a large swing towards it, and then something else will have to come out of it because people will get tired, the dollars will decrease, and the job expectations will be so high. And you have to have paid community workers in the forefront of collaborations; it can't all be done by volunteers, and it can't be done by extending your hours for ever and ever for those who are paid.

family literacy coordinator
FLAG interviews 1995

Doughty (1995) cites the "time to negotiate and maintain a partnership, the loss of autonomy and decision-making authority by the various stakeholders, and the organizational disruption created by the varied ways stakeholders approach the activity" (53) as significant costs of collaboration.

Mawhinney (1993) reminds us that, if our motivation to develop collaborations is to better serve the needs of 'at risk' children and families, then we must not ignore a major underlying cause of risk -- poverty. "Coordination or even collaboration cannot overcome poverty, nor will they resolve all the problems of fragile families" (43). Similarly, Capper (1994) warns that the risk factors affecting many program participants are "but symptoms of societal racism, classism, and other inequities that are beyond the reach of inter-agency collaboration efforts" (274) and that we must be careful that our collaborative efforts do not "mask or divert attention from the pervasiveness of such inequities."

Despite concerns like those described above, the need for and value of an integrated approach to working with and supporting families is widely recognized. What is not so clear is how they are to be achieved and sustained.