Family-centered care in the context of children with disabilities and their families: A Reflective review

Abstract

This theoretical-philosophical study addresses Family-Centered Care and the practice of healthcare teams in caring for children with disabilities and their families. The birth of a child with a disability brings about a crisis that affects the entire family, shaking its identity, structure, and functioning. Family members find themselves unprepared to cope with or manage this new way of being a family; the child with a disability does not meet expectations, there is change of roles, and families may even break apart. The Family-Centered Care Model can support strengthening of the family, encouraging their potential, and promoting empowerment. Although this model recognizes the family as a unit of care, a gap remains between theoretical knowledge and its application into clinical practice by health professionals, revealing the need for further research to indicate a means to transfer knowledge of this kind.