Interagency practice in children with non-organic failure to thrive: is there a gap between health and social care?

✍ Scribed by Julie Taylor; Brigid Daniel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 180 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-9136
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0852(199909/10)8:5<325::aid-car566>3.0.co;2-h

✦ Synopsis

Failure to thrive is a child protection issue that crosses the boundaries between many professional groups. It is a condition that places children at risk of negative developmental, social, physical and emotional consequences, but it has complex causal roots. Although there are known to be links between neglect, emotional abuse and failure to thrive, health and social care providers have diering responses and interventions with children who are failing to thrive. An examination of recent Scottish statistics supports the argument that there may be a gap between health and social care that some children may be falling through. Evidence from the literature regarding interagency roles and responsibilities is ambiguous, and the dierent, albeit overlapping, professional constructions of failure to thrive may result in a gap in care for some vulnerable children. It is only by beginning to understand the crucial links between dierent professions that we can contribute towards eective interagency child protection policy and practice. Copyright *