Caring for children and adolescents in the community

Nurses and midwives providing services and programs for children and adolescents work in a range of health, welfare and community agencies. Though children are the primary focus of care for these nurses and midwives, the provision of effective care to children generally requires the development of a therapeutic relationship with carers (most often parents) and families of children and young people. Families come in many forms and while the traditional nuclear married couple family may still be the most familiar, in many communities other family types are becoming increasingly common. Indeed in some communities, the nuclear married couple family is in the minority and nurses/midwives work with many children and young people in the context of blended families, extended families and single parent families.