Can Clinical Pathways be Developed to Offer Assistance in Child Care Cases?

Clinical and care pathways are increasingly being used to help with decision-making in various areas of health and social care. The value of these pathways is that they provide a standard approach to offering care, help maintain quality of delivery, and control cost. This paper reports on the first step in developing a pathway which may assist in the very difficult process of deciding the level of contact to birth parents of children after their removal from their care. The use of such a pathway in this area is fraught with difficulty, but if successful may help practitioners achieve the arrangements that are in the best interests of the child.