CPN | Courageous Parents Network
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WELCOME. We are here to help.

Courageous Parents Network is a non-profit organization and educational platform that orients, empowers and accompanies families and providers caring for children with serious illness.

 

Here—in videos, podcasts, printable guides, Guided Pathways, and blog—you will find wisdom from families and pediatric care providers to help you be the best parent you can be. And get through each moment.

About Us
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The Beginning

The Beginning

With a diagnosis you enter a strange new land. There is information to absorb; there are questions to ask and decisions to make. Your hopes, dreams and expectations for your child and family suddenly shift in unanticipated ways. You may feel sadness, anger, frustration and grief. But you may also experience new joys as you redefine hope. You are not alone. We have been there too.
Advocating for Your Child

Advocating for Your Child

You are your child’s most important advocate. You are the expert on your child. Your child’s care team (medical team, home care team, supportive therapists and school community) will look to you for guidance. Knowing the questions to ask, feeling comfortable expressing what matters most for your child and family, and developing an open channel of communication with your providers will help you get your child get the care you envision.
Understanding Interventions

Understanding Interventions

So much to learn and consider. Over the course of your child’s illness journey, you may be faced with choices about a range of medical interventions (such as surgeries, treatments or therapies). There is often no one or right answer—only what works for your child and family. The perspectives of providers and other families that have considered these interventions can help in making you feel more comfortable and confident in your decisions.
Coping, Family, and Relationships

Coping, Family, and Relationships

When a child is sick, the entire family is affected. You may worry about your other children, your spouse or parenting partner, extended family members, and even yourself. You wonder, “How can I keep myself and my relationships strong?”. Finding ways to tend to these relationships, and to care for yourself, will help you better care for your child.
End of Life and Bereavement

End of Life and Bereavement

The possibility of your child's end of life may feel like an impossible thing to think about. Hearing from other parents who have walked this path can help you consider the questions that you may have but perhaps fear saying aloud. Learning from providers and getting practical information can help you feel more empowered to make what may feel like impossible decisions. The voices of bereaved parents can be a source of strength and community as you find your way. We know. We have been there too.

Guided Pathways

CPN content organized into learning experiences, by topic.

Guided exploration may help you better understand a particular topic and how you want to address it in your own family’s life. Each Pathway is a short learning experience that mixes in videos, text, blogs and podcasts.

Learn More

The Courageous Parents Network Blog

Is It Ok to Laugh at THIS?

Everyone has inside jokes.  They are the stories with details known only to those who share a particular experience, and they inspire longtime friends or famil...

Parenting a Tightrope Walker

 When my youngest of three sons was born eighteen months ago, we knew we were in for a ride. I found out early during my pregnancy that he had a developmental ...

Going there: Peeking at End of Life

 Envisioning a child’s death is essentially impossible. Wretched and mind-stopping, the prospect may feel like an abandonment of the role as parent, protecto...

A Good Parent: What does this mean to you and how has it evolved?

In the early days of Courageous Parents Network, I read as much rigorously designed and published research as I could find (and understand) about what means mos...

A Lifelong Train Ride

Having a child with a rare progressive disease is like a lifelong train ride... Every family affected gets their own train car. You see, all of the cars are ...

Featured / New

Page

Resources to Support Courageous Coping During COVID

During this surreal and deeply unsettling time brought on by the COVID-19 virus and what essentially amounts to the shutting down of the entire world, I want to...

Resources to Support Courageous Coping During COVID

Video

CPN talks with counselor Mary-Frances Garber on staying calm and strong in the shadow of COVID.

CPN’s Blyth Lord talks with counselor Mary-Frances Garber, MS, CGC, on staying calm and strong in the shadow of COVID. “Anxiety is, really, fear o

CPN talks with counselor Mary-Frances Garber on staying calm and strong in the shadow of COVID.
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Podcast

Podcast: Dr. Kate Davidoff - journey to becoming pediatric palliative care doctor

CPN’s interview with Dr. Kate Davidoff on her journey to becoming an attending pediatric palliative care doctor: what drew her into medicine and then work

Podcast: Dr. Kate Davidoff - journey to becoming pediatric palliative care doctor
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Video Topic

Shifts in Baseline

Shifts in Baseline
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Provider

Elizabeth Blume, MD

Medical Director, Advanced Cardiac Therapies Boston Children’s Hospital...

Elizabeth Blume, MD
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We are a non-profit and are grateful for your financial support so families can share their experience and expertise to impact the course of care, both given and received.