Aligning services with parents’ expectations and preferences may be an important determinant of outcome in early
intervention services. Despite the recent attention accorded to UNHS, relatively little emphasis has been placed on parents’ views of their needs after the detection of hearing loss and the service models needed to address them. Attributes of service models such as parental involvement in intervention and quality of therapy may be critical factors in determining the effectiveness of an intervention program (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2004).With a newly implementedUNHS programin the province of Ontario, this study was undertaken to better understand, from the perspective of parents of young children with hearing loss, the supports required to give their children the best start in life. The data reported here are from a study designed to learn about parents’ perspectives on the benefits of early hearing detection as well as their needs after learning of a hearing disorder. The results of the first objective have been recently reported (Fitzpatrick, Graham, Durieux-Smith, Angus,&Coyle, 2007), and the latter objective forms the basis of this article. Specifically, the study sought to (a) identify parents’ needs during their experience in caring for a young child with hearing loss through the spectrum of care from identification to fitting of amplification to rehabilitation, (b) identify the strengths and gaps in the system of care experienced by the families, and (c) outline the important attributes of childhood hearing services from the perspective of families.