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FAILURE TO THRIVE
Failure to thrive (sometimes referred to as faltering growth) is a term used to refer to children whose rate of growth is significantly below normal as a direct result of inadequate nutrition. It is identified by measuring weight gain, height, and head circumference, according to expected standards and speed of growth for children of the same age. Failure to thrive normally becomes apparent during the first three years.Failure to thrive is sometimes divided into ‘organic’ failure to thrive (which is thought to result from physical illnesses or genetic conditions) and ‘non-organic’ failure to thrive (for which environmental factors, such as neglect or poor family relationships, are thought to be primarily responsible). But although it can have many causes (with babies, it can simply be the result of poor feeding techniques, for example), failure to thrive is always associated with inadequate nutrition. However, in recent years it has been argued that a distinction between organic and non-organic failure to thrive is not helpful: ‘Making a distinction between organic and non-organic failure to thrive is not useful because it is better to view failure to thrive as a syndrome of malnutrition associated with all possible roots. Ill children who are failing to thrive might be neglected or inadequately cared for as well, so both organic and non-organic factors should be investigated.’ (Children Who Fail to Thrive: A Practice Guide (2004), Dorota Iwaniec.)<<

FALTERING GROWTH
[See Failure to thrive] <<
FAMILY AND FRIENDS CARE
This is not a legally defined term. However, family and friends care (also known as kinship care) is usually used to describe the situation where a child who cannot live with their parents is living away from the parental home with a relative or friend.Such placements will usually have been assisted or supported in some way by social services, and, if the child were not living with family or friends, they would instead be living with non-related foster carers, in residential care, have been placed for adoption, or be living independently. The child may or may not be looked after by the local authority.

See also Looked after; Accommodated <<

FAMILY THERAPY
Family therapy is a way of working with families when one or more family members are experiencing problems. It is based on the idea that the behaviour of people is influenced and maintained by the way in which they interact with others, particularly within strong social systems such as a family. By addressing the ‘system’ – i.e. the family as a functioning unit – family therapy works to address and overcome the problems being experienced by the individual(s) within it. Most family therapists are psychotherapists. <<
FORMULATION
This term is commonly used within child and adolescent mental health services to describe the process by which a child or young person’s mental state and needs are assessed, and a judgement reached as to what interventions are necessary to support the child. The process encompasses the gathering of key factual information about the child or young person (both past and present events, situation and difficulties), observations made during the assessment (e.g. the child’s behaviour, relationship skills, and mental state), and taking into account the context of the child’s family and wider community. These are then analysed by the child and adolescent mental health team in order to develop a full explanatory picture of the child’s difficulties and to inform the interventions that the team feels will be necessary to help the child. <<
FOUNDATION STAGE
The foundation stage was introduced in September 2000 as a distinct phase of education for children aged three to five. It provides a framework for children’s learning in nursery or reception class. The Foundation Stage Curriculum for 3-5 year-olds is based on learning through play and on six areas of learning. These areas of learning are based on the skills and understanding that children will need to participate in formal education when they start school at the age of five. The Education Act 2002 extended the National Curriculum to include the foundation stage.See also Foundation stage profile <<

FOUNDATION STAGE PROFILE
The Foundation Stage Profile was introduced in schools in September 2003 and replaced Baseline Assessment as the method of assessing children against the expected level of attainment as they enter Key Stage 1.The Foundation Stage Profile is not a test. It is used to summarise the achievements of children towards the Early Learning Goals within the Foundation Stage Curriculum and should be based on teachers’ day-to-day observations during normal classroom activities.

See also Foundation stage <<

FRAMEWORK FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN IN NEED AND THEIR FAMILIES
The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (often referred to simply as the Assessment Framework) was issued jointly by the Department of Health, the Department for Education and Employment (as it then was) and the Home Office in 2000. It provides guidance to local authorities social services departments and other agencies on the assessment of children in need under the Children Act 1989.The framework sets out to provide a systematic way of analysing and recording what is happening to children and young people within their families and the wider community in which they live, so that sound professional judgements can be made on children’s needs.

It describes a systematic approach to information gathering across three domains of a child’s life: the child’s developmental needs, parenting capacity, and family and environmental factors.

See also Children in Need; Common Assessment Framework <<

FRANK
FRANK is the government’s public information campaign operating in England and Wales and aiming to provide free, confidential advice FRANK was launched in May 2003 and since then there have been over 4 million visits to its drug information website talktofrank.com and 700,000 calls to its helpline – 0800 77 66 00. The campaign targets 11-21 year olds, and the parents of 11-18 year olds, but the service is for everyone and FRANK is used and adapted locally for drug campaigns <<
FRASER COMPETENCY
The term arises from the case in the early 1980s when Victoria Gillick attempted to set a legal precedent which would have meant that medical practitioners could not give young people under the age of 16 treatment or contraceptive services without parental permission. The ruling was initially successful but then the House of Lords ruled that young people who are under 16 are competent to give valid consent to a particular intervention if they have sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable them to understand fully what is proposed and are capable of expressing their own wishes. Lord Fraser was the leading Law Lord for the review.<<