Contemporary theory, policy and practice

The report is primarily focused on highlighting the problems in the review of the death of Child C; who was living with a complicated family and was a daughter of a single mother. The report firstly highlights the aims and objectives to be achieved by the course of research and application of contemporary theories to the problem under consideration.

Broadly, it is analysed from the case study that the child faced series of injuries due to careless behaviour of her mother and other family members and the problem was not investigated appropriately as evident from the case review.Contemporary theory policy and practice

Therefore, the report follows the Maastricht 7-step model to depict the problem-based learning; the problem is highlighted first and then the learning from the problem is discussed alongside proposed recommendations to overcome the problems highlighted in the future.

After the discussion on thedevelopment of intervention by different members of the society, a brief conclusion and recommendations section is included to conclude the report.

Aims and Objectives

The main aim of this report is to conduct a critical case study analysis of the case pertaining to thedeath of 17 weeks old Child C. The objectives of this report are as follows:

To conduct anin-depth analysis of case study focused on Child C’s death and highlight potential problems.
To evaluate the problems in the light of contemporary theories as applicable to problems highlighted in the analysis.
To recommend practices to overcome such problems in future by incorporating the insights from related contemporary theories.

The entire work in the report revolves around the achievement of these three objectives to overcome the problems identified in the case study in future years.

Definition of Technical Terms and Concepts

The technical terms and concepts identified in the case study are defined in this section for clarity of the meaning as required by Maastricht 7-step model.Contemporary theory policy and practice

Longstanding Relationship: It is defined as a relationship in which two persons in arelationship are not spending their life under one roof and are most likely involved in a physical relationship. These relations are generally considered to be temporary and are not long lasting.
Agencies: In the context of this case study, the term agencies refers to social care or child care agencies rather than the agencies involved in intelligence or another sort of criminal detection.
Respectful Scepticism: It is a term initiated by Lord Laming in the field of social sciences. It refers to the concept that professional in the field of social sciences and enquiry need to be sceptical while analysing any case. It refers to thecareful analysis of all the aspects related to the case which has not been performed in the case of death of Child C in the case under consideration (Hammell, 2009).

2. The Maastricht 7-step Model

Discussion on Problem-Based Learning

As defined by Albanese(2010), the Maastricht 7-step model is a tool which leads to problem-based learning for the students. The problem-based learning is defined as a teaching pedagogy which leads to learning of students by letting them experience and solve an open-ended problem in a trigger material as provided for this case study report as well.

In the view of De Mast et al. (2000), the problem-based learning is one of the important teaching pedagogies in terms of learning of the students given that they get to analyse a real-life problem and get to learn the practical aspects to solve the problem.Contemporary theory policy and practice

The problem-based learning is normally applicable to studies pertaining to social problems rather than corporate or business problems because business problems are contingent and standard solutions and theories cannot be proposed for those.

Further, the contemporary theorists believe that the problem-based learning has some weaknesses as well. Those weaknesses mainly include the focus on specific aspects of the problem under consideration which may not be present in the problems occurring frequently.

It means that a similar problem may occur in the future years but it may not be exactly same in terms of conditions and situation. Therefore, the learning may not be applied completely to the similar problems occurring next time (Albanese, 2010).

Description of Maastricht Model

For the purpose of this report, which is also based on problem-based learning, the Maastricht 7-step model is selected as a tool to depict the problem-based learning. In the view of Moust, Berkel and Schmidt(2005), the Maastricht 7-step model is most commonly applied to sociological problems and related studies.

The 7-step model starts with clarifying the text and explaining the unclear terms and concepts as explained in the introduction section of this report. As prescribed in the model, it requires the students to work in a group to perform all steps; the second step is focused on thedefinition of thekey problem in order to find the theme from the text provided.

The third stage requires the group to break the main problem into components, analyse the issues and propose possible solutions to avoid the issue in future. The ideas put forward at step 3 require being reviewed and refined at step 4 so that only feasible solutions are shortlisted.

At step 5, the group needs to establish learning objectives to find out what aspects they aim to learn from the analysis of the case as per their learning needs (Albanese, 2010). At step 6, the students perform some research and undergo self-study with respect to the learning objectives established earlier.

And lastly, the individual research and self-study must be brought to the group in order to integrate and test the solutions; there may be a need to go back to step 2 and re-perform all the steps (De Mast et al., 2000).

The model discussed above is used to perform the case study analysis in this report as it is based on analysis of social problems and their review.

3. Analysis of Case Study

Brief Description of Case Study

The child was living in her home with her brother, mother and mother’s boyfriend. She was the daughter of a single mother and her father has no relationship with her mother now. As this was a special case, the child has been getting help from numerous agencies including the children’s social care.

In August 2012, the mother of Child C met a new boyfriend who then joined the home as a family member. Right after the birth of Child C, she experienced a series of injuries which were termed as accidents by the mother and the entire family and therefore, no in-depth investigation was carried out to study the reasons for the accident.

After several injuries faced by Child C, the Child was brought to the hospital on November 12, 2002, in an ambulance; the child was not breathing and was dead before reaching the hospital. The health experts identified blisters on her neck and ear, which were then evaluated for the problems due to skin infection.

As mentioned in the case study, the case of death needs to be evaluated by a specific focus on the complex nature of family where child C was spending her life. As the child suffered series of injuries, only two of those were reported to the social care agencies.

Further, the professionals did not take the injuries to non-mobile baby (Child C in the case) seriously and three family members were not taken into investigations much. It highlights that multiple problems have arisen due to the careless behavior of professionals and the real cause of injuries to Child C and her death have not been found out.

It is also highlighted in the review of the case that professionals did not highlight the importance of safeguarding to the mother and other fellows of Child C which resulted in continuous carelessness and eventually the death of Child C (Case study is attached in the appendix section).

The most important aspects highlighted in the serious case study include the timeline of the accidents and injuries that child C has faced and the highlighting of the problem that social care agencies played an insufficient role. Further, another important aspect highlighted in the case study review is based on the identification of facts/problems why the mother of Child C could be so careless……………………………………………………………………….continued

Contemporary theory, policy and practice