Children’s Palliative Care is an active and total approach to care, embracing physical, emotional, social and spiritual elements.

It focuses on enhancement of quality of life for the child and support for the whole family and includes the management of distressing symptoms, provision of respite and care from diagnosis through death and bereavement.

Palliative care can be introduced at any point throughout a child’s life; it is completely individual. Some children may require palliative care from birth; others only as their condition deteriorates.

Children with life-limiting conditions require holistic and multidisciplinary services for long periods of time. Children may survive into early adulthood, extending palliative care over many years.

Palliative care affects the whole family, with most of the care provided by parents and siblings or grandparents. Appropriate services are more likely to be home based rather than hospital-based.

The aim of palliative care is to achieve quality of life and a dignified death, preferably in a place of the child and family’s choosing.

Additional Information and Support services which may be available to families

www.alittlelifetime.ie – A charity which provides information and supports to parents whose baby dies before, during or shortly after birth.

www.anamcara.ie – Group offering support to parents after bereavement.

www.barretstown.org – Offer bereavement weekends for families who have lost a child.

https://www.childhoodbereavement.ie/families – Provides information and guidance around children’s grief.

www.childrenspalliativehub.com – Resource aimed primarily at assisting parents, guardians, carers and the wider public in understanding what children’s palliative care is and seeks to help filter the wide range of information available on the internet.

www.feileacain.ie – Offer support to anyone affected by the death of a baby during pregnancy or shortly after.

www.firstlight.ie – Offer crisis intervention and free professional counselling services throughout Ireland to bereaved parents and family members who have suddenly lost a child up to 18 years.

www.hospicefoundation.ie – The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) is a national charity dedicated to all matters relating to dying, death and bereavement in Ireland.

www.lauralynn.ie – Hospice care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families

www.makeawish.ie – Aim to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, to bring hope, strength and happiness.

www.rainbowsireland.ie – The Rainbows programme supports children and young people affected by loss because of bereavement, separation or divorce.

Any Questions?

Phone: +353 45 894 538 or Email: [email protected]