For decades, advocacy organizations and programs serving specialized populations have sought more effective ways of enhancing positive outcomes by involving and supporting family and youth in service planning, development, implementation, and evaluation. The child and youth with special health care needs arena drafted family centered care guidelines over two decades ago.

First introduced by the Association for the Care of Children’s Health and further developed by federally sponsored Maternal and Child Health Bureau projects, the term family centered has become synonymous with the planning and development of services for children and youth with special health care needs. More recently, organizations and programs serving children and youth with mental health disorders began a national movement to institutionalize a family driven; youth guided system of care through support, resources, and facilitation by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Family organizations and population representatives have crafted and refined the terms to ensure that systems of care are responsive to the real needs of families and built upon a philosophy that families and their children should be respected as experts in their needs; serving as critical partners in the planning, development, and implementation of all services.