INTRODUCTION. In many Dutch nursing homes policy for family participation has been developed to increase the involvement of family members in the care of their relative. For that purpose a pilot study started to introduce family participation on the wards of a psychogeriatric nursing home by bringing family members into the care plan meeting as full members of the care team. AIM. The aim of the study is to evaluate a small-scale pilot project in four wards toward the part, the contribution to and the judgement of family members about the care plan meeting. METHOD. In this study qualitative (participant observation, interview) and quantitative (observation matrix and index analysis) approaches were used. FINDINGS. Findings show that during the meetings in almost half of the interactions family members have been involved. Furthermore, many of the questions of the family members are not about the illness but about the effects of that. Finally, there is an explicit need among family members to participate in the meeting. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION. With some reserve it can be concluded that this study has contributed to the participation of family as a full member in the multidisciplinary care plan meeting. The article ends with recommendations to improve the involvement of family members in the care plan meeting.