Whatever You Do for the Least of These : Ministering to Ill and Dying Children and Their Families

by Fosarelli, Patricia D.

• ISBN13: 9780764809842
• ISBN10: 0764809849
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Liguori Pubns

Summary

In Whatever You Do for the Least of These, the author, a pediatrician with experience in the fields of both medicine and ministry, offers concrete advice on what to do and what not to do when confronted with the sensitive and often inexplicable realities of illness, injury, and dying among children and teens. Part I is devoted to each stage of development in childhood -- cognitive, relational, and spiritual -- based on the work of Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, and James Fowler. A discussion of how illness affects children and their families is provided, since failure to understand these stages can result in confusion and humiliation for sick children and adolescents and embarrassment for pastoral visitors when expectations do not match reality. Part II covers specific conditions and circumstances, including chronic illness, mental illness, devastating injuries, coma, burns, and terminal cancer. In both sections, each chapter concludes with suggested pastoral approaches to children, adolescents, and their parents. All those engaged in pastoral care, as well as doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, parents, relatives, and friends, can rely on this unique guide to help them understand what ill and dying children are going through developmentally at each age. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Patricia Fosarelli, M.D., D. Min., has been a pediatrician for twenty-five years and also holds a doctorate in ministry. In addition to serving as the pastoral associate of her local church, Dr. Fosarelli holds faculty positions at both Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Department of Pediatrics) and the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary's Seminary and University

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
General Considerations
What Parents and Siblings Experience When Children Are Ill	p. 3
Preverbal Children: Infants and Toddlers	p. 11
Preschoolers	p. 21
School-Age Children	p. 33
Preteens and the Early Teenagers	p. 47
Mid to Late Teens	p. 59
Special Considerations
Chronic Illnesses	p. 71
Mental Illnesses	p. 79
Catastrophic Injuries	p. 85
Terminal Illnesses	p. 93
Conclusion	p. 101
Bibliography	p. 105
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.