North Carolina Family Voices is a national grassroots network of families and friends. We advocate for health care services that are family-centered; community-based; comprehensive; coordinated; and culturally competent for children and youth with special health care needs. We promote the inclusion of families as decision makers at all levels of health care and we support the essential partnerships between families and professionals

Our mission is to help families establish tood relationships with caregivers in their homes. Often families feel unsure or nervous about having someone in the home to provide care or other services to children with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or other special needs. Our goal is to help families create open, honest, and respectful communication with caregivers, all of which ultimately helps the child receiving the care.

We believe that family-centered care is the philosophy of service delivery that best meets the needs of children and their families. It is driven by the priorities of client families who relate to professionals in a collaborative and mutually respectful way. The basic principles of family-centered care are:

• People are treated with dignity and respect.
• Health care providers communicate and share complete and unbiased information with patients and families in ways that are affirming and useful.
• Individuals and families build on their strenghts by participating in experiences that enhance contgrol and independence.
• Collaboration among patients, families, and providers occurs in policy and program development and professional education, as well as in the delivery of care.

For More Information:
Contact us: 800-962-6817, ext. 11
or email: familyvoices@ecacmail.org

Nationally: www.familyvoices.org
or email: kidshealth@familyvoices.org