This paper examines the role of interprofessional collaboration in the identification and reporting of a child in need. Such collaboration is especially important in the context of the global pandemic caused by the novel Coronavirus disease of 2019, known as COVID-19. The child protection system must have the capacity and resources to respond to increased demands during this time, and early childhood educators serve as an essential link for child protective services in identifying and reporting a child in need. As an effective system to accomplish these two aims requires a working collaboration among its participants, Bronstein’s interdisciplinary collaboration model was used as a framework to interpret this practice. A small-scale qualitative study was conducted that included principals of nursery schools and child protection workers from one region in Estonia. Findings indicate that effective collaboration was believed to require communication and ongoing systematic relationship building. Collaboration in practice varied, as principals reported a high turnover rate for the child protection workers, which hindered the development of a working relationship and support for the process of noticing and thereby identifying a child in need. In contrast, child protection workers assessed collaboration more positively, recognizing the need to have a supportive system in place for nursery schools. Both groups of collaborators acknowledged the need to train teachers, particularly to conduct joint training exercises to foster a common understanding of the child in need and of the intervention process itself.

本文探讨了跨专业合作在识别和报告有需要的儿童中的作用。在 2019 年新型冠状病毒病（即 COVID-19）引起的全球大流行的背景下，这种合作尤为重要。儿童保护系统必须有能力和资源来应对这段时间不断增加的需求，而幼儿教育工作者是儿童保护服务识别和报告有需要的儿童的重要环节。作为实现这两个目标的有效系统需要参与者之间的工作协作，布朗斯坦的跨学科协作模型被用作解释这种实践的框架。进行了一项小规模的定性研究，其中包括来自爱沙尼亚一个地区的托儿所校长和儿童保护工作者。调查结果表明，有效的合作被认为需要沟通和持续的系统关系建立。实践中的合作各不相同，因为校长报告说儿童保护工作者的流动率很高，这阻碍了工作关系的发展，也阻碍了对注意到和识别有需要的儿童的过程的支持。相比之下，儿童保护工作者更积极地评估合作，认识到需要为托儿所建立支持系统。两组合作者都承认需要培训教师，