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

Child Illness and Death in the Time of COVID

Every morning I awoke to the same fear, would today be the day she stops breathing?  We knew losing Elizabeth was going to be awful but we counted on it also b...

The Boy Next Door Outside My Window

Looking out my home office window, I often see the teenaged boy from next door. He looks like my son Robby at the same age – fair-haired, tall, and gangly. Th...

Being a grandparent during the tough times

 I’m Carla Steckman’s mom and Talia Steckman’s grandmother. In July, 2017, Talia died at 23 months from Tay Sachs disease, a neurological genetic diso...

Secret Dairy, or How We Handle Surprise Plot Twists

All we wanted was a simple night out at the movies. Two weeks after the death of my son, my husband and daughter and I were raw with grief, so we thought “Arr...

Running the Falmouth Road Race (virtually) for CPN: A Family and Pediatric Provider Affair

At 5:15 each morning, Michael Sack, age 70, laces up his running shoes outside a rental house in Jamaica Plain. He sets out at a self-described “slow pace,”...

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.
Watch this Video

Video Topic

Yoga and Meditation

Yoga and Meditation
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Podcast

Podcast: The Miller Family - Hunter Syndrome and Identity after loss

In this episode, Amy and Ray Miller , parents to Dan, who had Hunter Syndrome and Hailey join CPN’s Jennifer Siedman to talk about surrounding their son Dan w

Podcast: The Miller Family - Hunter Syndrome and Identity after loss
Listen to this podcast

Guide

Introduction to Pediatric Palliative Care

If you are curious about palliative care, it’s likely that someone on the medical team has introduced the term to you, or has suggested a palliative care cons...

Introduction to Pediatric Palliative Care

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.