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A case study of failure to thrive and inter‐agency work
Author(s) -
Wright Pseudonym Jayne
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
child abuse review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-0852
pISSN - 0952-9136
DOI - 10.1002/1099-0852(200007/08)9:4<287::aid-car608>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - failure to thrive , agency (philosophy) , hierarchy , social work , action (physics) , work (physics) , child protection , occupational safety and health , psychology , social psychology , medicine , public relations , nursing , sociology , political science , law , pediatrics , engineering , social science , mechanical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
Social workers and medical professionals have an ambiguous relationship. Though expected to work together within the child protection regulations of the Children Act 1989, there are many tensions. In general, social workers and health visitors enjoy close working relationships, but tensions are frequently experienced as one proceeds higher up the medical hierarchy. The reasons for this may be numerous, but in practice may obstruct speedy action in detection and prevention of disease which is social in aetiology — yet all professionals have an important role. I hope to demonstrate this in the following case study, where ‘failure to thrive’ took 18 months to evidence but, without inter‐agency working, might have proved fatal to the child. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.