Topic Category: Family-Centered Care
Materials
- Definition and Principles of Family-Centered Care (rtf)
- A 3-page handout from MCHB that defines family-centered care, outlines the principles of family-centered care, and includes the role of cultural competency in family-centered care. Includes introductory letter from Dr. Merle MacPherson, Department of Health and Human Services
- Definition and Principles of Family-Centered Care (Printable Handout)
- Same as above without letter
- The Family-Centered Care Self-Assessment Tool – User’s Guide (pdf)
- The User’s Guide provides a detailed set of steps to use the Family and Provider Tools for a full assessment of a practice setting or family. In addition, the tool may be used as an educational tool to build awareness and knowledge of family-centered care for families, youth, providers, health plans and policy-makers. The items of the tool may also be used in defining family-centered care for policies, contracts and quality standards and can be used to compare a family-centered approach with other care models. The Tools are intended to assess care for all children and youth and also has some questions that are specific to the needs of children and youth with special health care needs and their families.
- The Family-Centered Care Self-Assessment Tool – Family Tool (pdf)
- Families, both individually and within family support and advocacy organizations, can use this tool to increase awareness and knowledge of the specifics of family-centered care to more effectively:
- Assess the quality of the care that they and their children receive;
- Share knowledge about family-centered care with other families, with providers, with health plans and with policy makers to create a shared vision for improving the health care system;
- Advocate for changes within health care settings, health plans and public agencies to more effectively support families and their children in the process of receiving care.
- The Family-Centered Care Self-Assessment Tool – Provider Tool (pdf) or (Catalog Order)
- Health care settings can use this structured tool in quality improvement activities and to support development of the first key component of a medical home as defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics—“provision of family-centered care through developing a trusting partnership with families, respecting their diversity, and recognizing that they are the constant in a child’s life” (AAP, 2002). This tool can be used to increase family satisfaction with the care setting and to increase its standing in the community.
- The Family-Centered Care Self-Assessment Tool – Family Tool, Provider Tool & User’s Guide – CD format (Catalog Order)
- The cd contains all three documents described above.

