Spirituality and Caregiving in Pediatric Illness

Virtually any crisis, including and perhaps especially that of having a child with a serious illness, stirs up many kinds of questions. Some parents coping with their child’s illness find themselves in a crisis of faith, striving to understand why the illness has occurred and what can be done to change the circumstances–to make things “right.” Others find that their faith is strengthened as they invest trust in something outside their control; they may even feel that they are being tested and must respond in faith. Some who have never had a faith system seek one; others reject their faith out of fear, anger, despair. There is no one way to experience the spiritual. For the purposes of this Guide, spirituality is defined not as faith, but as the expression of the universal human need to make meaning and to create a purposeful life.