Palliative Care Child Life Services at Baylor Scott & White

Child life specialists are experts in child development. They specialize in supporting children, birth to 18 years and their families, during stressful medical situations. Child life specialists usually work in pediatric hospitals where they help sick children adjust to their own medical condition.

Baylor Scott & White Health is one of the first health systems to add child life specialists to the healthcare team, in the adult setting. Our palliative care child life specialists are members of the Supportive Palliative Care team.  They partner with parents to provide emotional support to children loved by seriously ill or injured adult patients served by Baylor Scott & White. They help children understand what is happening by providing developmentally appropriate information and guidance. Child life specialists work directly with children to help them cope with new experiences and challenges they might encounter during the medical journey.

Baylor Scott & White provides palliative care child life services free of charge.  We are dedicated to ensuring that family-centered care includes all members of the family, even the littlest ones.

Please contact us with questions about Palliative Care Child Life Services.

Email us at childlifepalliativecare@bswhealth.org

Child Life program

About the Palliative Care Child Life Team

As the largest program of its kind in the nation, the Baylor Scott & White Palliative Care Child Life Program has been a pioneer in the field since it began in 2011. The team is comprised of highly educated, extensively trained, experienced certified child life specialists.

Palliative Care Child Life Program group

Palliative Care Child Life Services include:

Helping adults

  • Explain serious conditions and death to children in a developmentally appropriate manner
  • Understand, plan for, and respond to children’s unique reactions to serious illness or injury, trauma, grief, and loss
  • Feel empowered and more comfortable emotionally supporting their children during the medical journey


Helping children

  • Learn about a new or ongoing diagnosis, understand what to expect during hospital visits, and learn about changes in their loved one’s abilities and appearance
  • Understand, process, and manage their thoughts and feelings about their loved one’s medical condition
  • Understand, prepare for, and cope with the death of their loved one, and learn about grief


Helping families when death is near

  • Supporting families experiencing expected or unexpected death, including deaths following traumatic events
  • Offering family connection and therapeutic interventions, as well as memory-making activities
  • Partnering with the adults to prepare children for funerals and memorial services, and explain traditional burial and cremation

Palliative Care Child Life impact

Journeying together - how child life specialists walk with children and families through health crisis

Frequently asked questions

Funding for the Palliative Care Child Life Program