Informed choice, deaf children and families: Underpinning ideas and project development.

This article concerns informed choice and the provision of services for deaf children and their families. It first outlines the background to why informed choice has become such an issue of importance in the English context. It then goes on to describe the first stages of a research and development project designed to produce guidance for both professionals and parents on an informed choice approach. These stages consist of a comprehensive literature review and a series of consultations with multi professional service providers and parents of deaf children. Fifteen key principles are presented that have been derived from these stages of data collection. They underpin our understanding of the complexities of what constitutes informed choice. Examples of the actual professional guidance document and parent hand-book are also given. These serve to highlight the core difficulties faced in translating the un-derpinning issues into practical and useful documents for parent and professional alike.