Parental participation in case conferences: the case against.

minority where a parent is bent on injury to the child. The question is whether it is best to draft policies that get the best out of the majority of families, particularly when large socioeconomic factors are the ultimate root of the problem, or whether all families have to endure rigid and exclusive procedures for the sake of the minority of hostile and dangerous parents. Family participation at case conferences is a social work practice with health implications. General paediatricians attend very few case conferences and they are more likely to be initial than review. The alleged abuse is more likely fresh than old and the injuries more likely serious than trivial. These will be the most difficult of cases and it is tempting to become cynical about the development of partnership with parents. Doctors should also be able to judge the success of parental attendance as a basic standard of practice in the hundreds of 'bread and butter' review conferences that they do not attend. At the same time they need to lobby for improved funding, training, and resources in child protection. I have no doubt that this way of working demands much more of us, though it promises more humane results.