The Unspeakable Nature of Pediatric Palliative Care: Unveiling Many Cloaks

Abstract

In this article, the authors address the topic of pediatric palliative care and the unspeakable nature of the very practice of caring for children that are dying. This unspeakableness shows up in many ways around a silencing of the practice itself, a silencing of the topic of death within in the practice, and ultimately, a silencing of children and families who are faced with one of the most profound life events of loss imaginable. The authors speak to this unspeakable nature and offer family systems nursing practices and the illness beliefs model as one way to give language and voice to the suffering and strengths that inhabit this often-wordless terrain.