Family-Centred Service

Abstract

Family-centred service (FCS) is a popular phrase widely used to encompass a set of ideas about service delivery to children and their families. Despite the increasing adoption of the concepts of FCS, however, many clinicians may remain uncertain about exactly what FCS means. This review article has four purposes. The first section presents a brief review of the history and ideas behind FCS. Second, the authors present a new framework of FCS, blending the elements of this approach into a set of ideas that have immediate clinical applicability. The third focus of this paper is to review the research evidence that supports FCS and to point to areas where further research is needed. Finally we consider the implications for service providers of the move to FCS, and the potential uses of the FCS framework as a guide for teaching and research.