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Social Work vocabulary · Casework and Assessment

Follow up

Meaning in social work, with examples

phrasal verbCore term

In social work, follow up means: To check what has happened after an earlier action, or to take further action on something such as a concern, a referral or a missed appointment.

In Turkish: takip etmek, izlemek, üzerinde durmak

How it is used

Used constantly in meetings and case notes: follow up a referral, follow up with the school, follow up on a concern. The noun and adjective take a hyphen: a follow-up visit, a follow-up call.

Example sentences

  1. I'll follow up with the school nurse and let you know by Friday.

  2. Nobody followed up the missed appointments, so the concern was lost.

Common collocations

  • follow up a referral
  • follow up with
  • follow up on a concern
  • follow-up visit
  • home visitA visit by a social worker to a person's home to meet the family, see their living conditions and talk in a familiar setting.
  • case notesWritten records of contacts, conversations, observations and actions in a case, made by the worker as the work happens.
  • referralA formal request passing a person or a concern to another service or professional so that they can assess the situation or provide help.
  • case closureThe planned end of a social worker's or agency's involvement with a person or family, usually when goals are met or help is no longer needed.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Casework and Assessment

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