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This article describes the foundation in 1997 of a Family Nursing Network (FNN) in Edinburgh involving nurses from local trusts and Scottish universities. The purpose of the FNN is to support the use of family nursing in practice, research and education. Family nursing proposes that health care should focus on the needs of the family as a unit rather than as the context of care for a family member with health needs. Family nursing is not common practice in the UK but some nurses have found it highly relevant to their care. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes the family health nurse as an important component of health care in the community for the future and family nursing could well provide the foundation for such practice. Definitions of the family and family nursing are offered, the conceptual background is analysed and the work achieved by the FNN is reviewed. The authors write on behalf of the FNN.