Here Caitlin’s teacher is trying to articulate her concerns about a child who is clearly unhappy, and underachieving at school. We know about Caitlin’s complex family background from the description of social worker Tracey’s involvement with the Dudley/Harris family, where she is not the only or even the main focus of concern. However, we can imagine how as she grows older she is likely to experience similar problems to her sisters; poor school attendance leading to a lack of qualifications, early pregnancy, and serious mental health problems. Her teacher is hoping to find a way of intervening now to prevent this from happening, and to improve her life chances. This will not be easy. We have seen in the Dudley/Harris family case study that the family are resistant to intervention. Penny has noticed that Caitlin responds well when she has one-to-one attention, but opportunities for this are limited, as she does not have a learning difficulty which would justify extra resources in the classroom. However, Penny’s interest and concern is a resource in itself which Caitlin can use. Teachers are after all the most significant adults in children’s lives, after parents and other family members.

Penny’s other concerns are around a lack of parental care and involvement, which may be bordering on neglect. She has also heard reports of some inappropriately sexualised talk. It will be helpful for her to share her perceptions with Tracey and others involved with the family, and to learn from what they can tell her about the situation at home. Behaviour can be interpreted in different ways, and it is important to keep an open mind and see the wider perspective. Caitlin’s hunger, for instance, could be literal or metaphorical – for food or love – or it could be a combination of both. The sexualised talk could be seen as ringing alarm bells about possible sexual abuse, but it could also be a result of spending time with and listening to her sexually experienced older sisters (she seeks out the older girls at school), and maybe seeing sexually explicit material on television or online. It is also possible that her friends are exaggerating its inappropriateness for reasons of their own. Penny is probably interpreting the fact that Caitlin smells of urine as evidence of poor hygiene and neglect, but she is unlikely to be aware of her bedwetting problem (see Dudley/Harris family), which will be a significant contributory factor.

The overall picture is of a child whose developmental progress is not taking the course it should, and her teacher is anxious to understand more about the reasons for this, and to see if anything can be done to help her.