An enabling and empowering model of helping relationships is proposed as a framework for promoting increased parent participation in family-centered care of health-impaired children The model includes an operational definition of both empowerment and effective helping and descriptions of three clusters of helping behaviors that are likely to have competency-producing influences The usefulness of the model is illustrated with data from a multiple case study with two families of children with special health care needs The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the model for the family-centered care of children with health impairments.