Patricia Dolan describes how drawing up a contract of care with a sick child encourages family-centred care and helps develop a true partnership between the family and the health care professionals

It has been argued by some psychologists, including Bowlby (1), that the presence of the normal care giver helps a child to explore new situations and cope with strangers. Parents and significant others therefore need to be involved in child care and made to feel welcome and important in the hospital environment. It has been argued that the ‘care of children, well or sick, is best carried out by the family, with varying degrees of assistance from members of a suitably qualified health care team’ (2).