Losing the child’s voice and ‘the captive mother’: an inevitable legacy of family-centred care?

A key role of the children’s nurse includes supporting children, young people and their families to be involved in care, yet this involvement has not been embedded into every day practice. Parents want and expect to be involved in their child’s care and to work in collaboration with health professionals but want to choose their level of involvement.1,2 The Twitter chat focused on a recent publication, ‘Family-centred care: the captive mother revisited’, 3 which revisited Roy Meadow’s (Arch Dis Child 1969) acclaimed article ‘The captive mother’.4 The article is already generating debate and questioning the relevance of FCC, where some argue that the emphasis should be on treating the child as an individual, with rights and choices, and having a voice in their care.5,6.