Palliative Social Work Program
A child’s life-threatening illness simply appears out of nowhere. The response must be dramatic and virtually immediate, leaving parents no time to process or plan. They must trust total strangers with their child’s life. In a matter of weeks, these strangers will become their second family. As diverse as Valerie Fund families are, they all share the experience of the shock of a diagnosis that turns life as they’ve known it on its head. It is at this moment that the palliative social worker steps in, measures the dynamics of the newly diagnosed patient family, and empowers them with the tools they need to put one foot in front of the other. Because of her experience working with so many families, she is equipped to prepare them for what lies ahead, doing so in a highly personalized way that takes each family’s unique character into account.
Our palliative social worker administers psychosocial assessments on assigned patients who have life-threatening and potentially fatal illnesses. The focus is always on helping the patient and family at an appropriate level regarding the child’s development and understanding of death. Palliative care for children is about finding a solution that works best for each family.
