Social Services

 

Location Lucile Packard Children's Hospital 725 Welch Road Ground Floor, Room 0246 Palo Alto, CA 94304  Our office on the Ground Floor is open Monday-Friday, 8 am-4:30 pm.

Phone: (650) 497-8303     Fax: (650) 724-7688   Social workers are available onsite Monday-Friday, 8:30 am-5 pm and Saturday-Sunday, 9 am-5 pm.

The Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Social Services team provides patients and families with emotional support, resource assistance, care coordination and education. Our mission is to assist patients and caregivers with:

• Coping with illness and treatment
• Promoting patient access to care and caregiver participation in care
• Contributing to the best health and psychosocial outcomes

 

How We Can Help

We understand your concerns and the emotional and social impacts that illness has on our pediatric and obstetric patients and their families. Our team partners with you to develop options and plans that meet your or your child's health, developmental and emotional needs. We:

• Provide counseling to help patients and caregivers cope more effectively with life changes associated with hospitalization and/or a medical condition
• Provide crisis intervention and support 
• Help patients and caregivers understand the patient’s illness and treatment plan
• Help the patient’s siblings and other family members adjust to the patient’s illness and/or hospitalization
• Advocate with the medical team to promote family-centered care
• Help address language and cultural concerns by working closely with Interpreter Services to provide support in your native language
• Plan and facilitate patient care conferences between your family and the medical team. In these conferences, you and the medical team will work together to make treatment decisions.
• Educate your family about access to health care and hospital resources
• Provide referrals to community agencies that offer financial, insurance, legal and mental health services and other practical needs

 

Request a Social Worker

There are two ways that Packard Children's Hospital patients and families can access a social worker:

1. Most of our clinical services have social workers assigned to them. Patients that use those clinical services are automatically assigned to a social worker.
2. A patient or family member can request a social worker by asking a nurse or member of the medical team to make a referral. 

If you have any questions about how to speak with a social worker, please call our main office at (650) 497-8303.
 
 

Learn More

• Social Services Team

 

Related Information

• Care-A-Van for Kids
• Housing
• Ronald McDonald House
• Child Psychiatry
• Guide for Patients Who Are Turning Age 18 (English / Spanish PDF)
  
  
• National Association of Social Workers