Home-Based Pediatric Family Life Specialist

Position: Child Life Specialist

Location: Rochester Regional Health Home Care - Syracuse
Hours: Full Time 40 hrs/ week

Schedule: Mon-Friday 8:30am - 5pm

The Child Life Specialist is a core member of the interdisciplinary care team serving pediatric palliative care patients and their families in the home and community setting. The Child Life Specialist is responsible for the development and delivery of skilled child life support focused on the developmental, emotional and psychosocial needs of identified Compassion Net patients (children/teens with a potentially life-threatening illness) and their siblings.

The Child Life Specialist promotes effective coping through developmentally appropriate interventions and advocacy for family-centered care, in collaboration with the interdisciplinary care team and in accordance with Child Life standards and scope of practice.

Essential Responsibilities/Accountabilities
Level I

• Collaborates as an effective member of the Interdisciplinary Care Team and as a resource regarding children’s developmental and psychosocial needs to reduce suffering and promote healthy coping for children, siblings and families.

• Understands and promotes the integration of pediatric palliative care with pediatric acute care and community-based care.

• Collaborates with involved parents/caregivers to assess initial/ongoing developmental and psychosocial needs and coping styles of children and/or siblings, while promoting family-centered care.

• Develops, implements, and evaluates plan of care for child life services to empower and address the needs of medically fragile children, their siblings, and families, to support comfort, goals of care, and facilitate adaptive coping through developmentally appropriate interventions including medical play, expressive techniques, education, procedural support, developmental and psychosocial support.

• Promotes a safe and nurturing environment within the home setting, school, or other community setting agreed upon with family.

• Collaborates with medical team to provide developmentally appropriate diagnostic teaching.

• Provides ongoing education and information to parents/caregivers related to child development, childrens’ reaction(s) to stress and healthcare experiences, anticipatory grief, and bereavement.

• Provides opportunities for family members to participate in expressive/therapeutic play activities including grief, loss, and legacy work as appropriate.

• Advocates on behalf of the child and family to assure their wishes/goals are being respected and communicated with the team throughout illness and at end-of-life.

• Facilitates developmentally appropriate grief and bereavement interventions, both preceding and following the child’s death; including preparation for funeral/memorial services, facilitation of memory making, therapeutic intervention to assess and respond to children’s understanding and coping needs.

• Plans and implements age-appropriate programming for children and siblings to encourage opportunities for peer support, validation, and to reduce feelings of isolation.

• Documents all communication/interventions with all program participants and potential participants.

• Participates in Interdisciplinary Group (IDG) meetings.

• Meets department productivity standards.

• Collaborates with child life staff at the facility where the child receives “primary care” to promote consistency of care.

• Consistently demonstrates high standards of integrity by supporting the Lifetime Healthcare Companies’ mission and values and adhering to the Corporate Code of Conduct.

• Maintains high regard for member privacy in accordance with the corporate privacy policies and procedures.

• Regular and reliable attendance is expected and required.

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