Screening for failure to thrive--what are we looking for?

This paper describes the process by which our clinical service identifies and manages children in the population with differing levels of severity of Failure to Thrive (FTT), ranging from cases managed solely by their own Health Visitor (HV), through to those requiring registration under child protection procedures or even removal into care. We outline the theoretical principles, research evidence and clinical experience that has informed the development of the service and discuss the lessons learnt that could be applied elsewhere.