Response to Kendall GE & Tallon M (2011) Commentary on Shields (2010) questioning family‐centred care. Journal of Clinical Nursing 20, 1788–1790

[Extract] Kendall and Tallon (2011) have written an erudite commentary on my article (Shields 2010). I find little to disagree with in their comments and support what they have said. We must, though, look closely at their points. They are right in saying that a large gap exists between theory about family-centred care (FCC) and the practice of it. In fact, this is the essence of my original argument for it to be questioned. It is pointless, inefficient and essentially detrimental to both children and families, and health services, to continue to implement a model for which no evidence of its effectiveness exists. Kendall and Tallon (2011) correctly cite the basis of FCC as the presence of the family during a stressful event of hospital admission because individual children and their families cannot be separated and that responsibility for the child must remain with the family, not the health professional. They show that there is ample evidence to illustrate the deleterious effects of separation of parent and child at times of stress and that unsupported hospital admission can be to the physical, emotional and social detriment of a child. Of course, I would agree with all of this; hence, my continued study of FCC and my advocacy for children and families