CPN | Courageous Parents Network
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WELCOME.

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 get through each moment. And be the best parent you can be.

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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.

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.

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The Courageous Parents Network Blog

Caregiver's Manifesto

The idea for Caregiver's Manifesto started with wanting to capture a number of the most surprising, aching, and profound insights I've come to know while parent...

A Most Difficult Decision

The morning after we learned that my NICU graduate and newborn daughter’s 6 week MRI had indicated that her hypoxic injury left large areas of fluid where the...

Chronic Hypervigilance

I feel like the word is too nice of a term. It sounds overly positive. Vigilance is a good thing, so surely being extra vigilant is even better. Right? Let me a...

It Hurts: My Year End Wish For All of Us

Words fail and yet I feel compelled to write today, December 30, 2022. In the past month, people I care about and in some instances know and love well have been...

7 Things to Understand About Regret

Raising children involves all kinds of decision-making. Some of these decisions must be made quickly; in other cases we are allowed some time. Either way, there...

Featured / New

Guide

Assessing and Responding to the Spiritual Needs of Seriously Ill Children and Their Caregivers

How do clinicians care for their patient's whole person--physical, emotional, social, spiritual--and their caregivers? If illness is seen as impacting not only ...

Assessing and Responding to the Spiritual Needs of Seriously Ill Children and Their Caregivers

Podcast

Lauren's Mom Amy G and Palliative Care MD Erin F

Mom Amy and her daughter Lauren’s palliative care doctor, Erin, talk about Erin’s care of 7-year old Lauren: how she saw her as the full child that

Lauren's Mom Amy G and Palliative Care MD Erin F
Listen to this podcast

Provider

Erin Flanagan, MD

Erin Flanagan, MD: director of pediatric palliative care, Advocate Children's Hospital, Park Ridge, IL...

Erin Flanagan, MD
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Family

Amy G (mother of Lauren) and palliative care doctor Erin F

Palliative care doctor Erin Flanagan and mom Amy Graver, mother of four, including twins Lauren and Emma. Lauren was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma at age 7 a

Amy G (mother of Lauren) and palliative care doctor Erin F
Watch this Video

Guide

7 Things Your Patient Family Would Like You to Know

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7 Things Your Patient Family Would Like You to Know

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.

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