AbstractThe practice stories of 30 expert home visiting public health nurses were recorded and interpreted qualitatively, using constant comparative analysis. Three family caregiving competencies, which provide the essential preliminary groundwork to enable family self‐help, were identified: locating the family, which involves tracking down highly unstable families; building trust, which involves developing rapport with clients who have seldom experienced trust; and building strength, which occurs with those who have neither apparent strengths nor belief in their own capacity. These descriptions have major implications for investigation, teaching, and integration into polic