Creating a therapeutic partnership with patients and families during their crisis with cancer is both a challenging and extremely rewarding experience for the oncology nurse. Each family brings to the experience its own structure, maturational stage, culture, and history. They bring individual and group emotional responses, coping strategies and conflicts when confronting a disease over which they have no control. This article describes the nature of contemporary families within the context of initial and ongoing nursing assessment. It also provides examples of family cancer experiences and the therapeutic approaches selected by nurses faced with the challenges of individual and family coping styles.