Out of the wilderness and into the fold: The school nurse and child protection

Date

2000

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Child Abuse Review

Abstract

This paper argues that there has been a major change since the mid-1980s in the extent to which other workers involved in child protection recognize the value of the contribution of school nurses. Evidence for this is drawn from a longitudinal study in an English shire county using a vignette approach to explore workers' perceptions of the handling of child protection issues. While in part the greater recognition of the role of the school nurse can be attributed to the adoption of child protection procedures, this provides only a partial explanation. School nurses in the 1990s were better qualified and more experienced, while other workers such as school heads and social workers recognized the need to work with others, such as the school nurse, in order to meet their own objectives. The paper concludes that there is a case for more formal recognition of school nurses in child protection because, like health visitors, with whom they have a follow-on colleague relationship, they are often the most significant health workers for children who may be neglected or abused. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description

Keywords

child abuse, International Resources, United Kingdom, child protection, school nurses

Citation

Clarke, M. L. (2000). Out of the wilderness and into the fold: the school nurse and child protection. Child Abuse Review: Journal of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, 9(5), 364-374.

DOI