Giving children and parents a voice--the parents' perspective

Being the parent of a sick child requires advocacy, endurance and persistence if the child's voice is to be heard and his or her needs met. Based on her experiences as the mother of a child who was treated for leukaemia and died at the age of nine and a half years, Bridget Taylor illustrates the difference it makes when professionals make time to listen and take on the advocacy role for the parents. She argues that there is much more that nurses can do to know the child, to understand the parents' distress and then to create a culture that gives permission for parents and children to disagree with or question the care they receive.