Parenthood can be one of life’s most rewarding, challenging and varied experiences. As children grow up, parents usually play less of a role in their lives. But that is not necessarily the case for parents of children with special health care needs. Many of them face the daunting responsibility of perpetual parenthood. In this week’s episode, Dr. Charmaine Wright, medical director of ChristianaCare’s Center for Special Health Care Needs, takes us into their experience.
She explains what happens at “the cliff” and shares what parents and other caregivers do to prepare for the day when they are gone. Dr. Wright tells us not only why perpetual parenthood has become so much more common in the past three decades but also why it is lasting families are facing it for even longer periods of time.
Learn what ChristianaCare’s Center for Special Health Care Needs does on a daily basis and how Dr. Wright’s team there is collaborating with some of the nation’s other top health systems to provide even greater support to families navigating this complex terrain.
Join us for this enlightening conversation and gain a new perspective on perpetual parenthood.
Dr. Charmaine Wright is the medical director of ChristianaCare’s Center for Special Health Care Needs, which is the only center in the region dedicated to providing primary care for adults ages 18 and older with complex medical and social conditions that originated in childhood. Dr. Wright oversees a team of medical experts who focus on guiding these patients and their families through the transition from pediatrics to adult medicine. Dr. Wright is also the Medical Director of the Mary Campbell Center and serves on the Easter Seals of Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore Board of Directors.
Links
- ChristianaCare Center for Special Health Care Needs, phone: 302-320-6300
- "Guiding patients with special needs into adulthood" (DelawareOnline.com)
- Got Transition - National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health
- University of Delaware Center for Disability Studies
