STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
Starlight is the national charity for children’s play in healthcare in the UK. We support children to experience the power of play during treatment, care and recovery from illness in more than 600 healthcare settings across the UK
About This Cause
Play is integral to the wellbeing of children and can make hospitals and hospices feel more welcoming, safe and a good place to thrive, ensuring children live every day even when they are sick. We know that the highest attainable standard of health can only be realised if children are supported to engage in play in hospital. Sadly, play is often overlooked or trivialised in the healthcare system, and play professionals are undervalued and under resourced despite the contribution they make to children’s wellbeing and the efficiencies they deliver in the NHS. Play is a vital way children gain agency in their treatment, a sense of autonomy and control; and is an important way to express thoughts and feelings in a healthcare setting. We believe that children’s healthcare services should fully reflect the importance of play to their health, wellbeing, resilience and recovery, and that every child who is an inpatient should have daily play opportunities, appropriate to their condition, supported by dedicated play staff. At Starlight we think differently about children and their childhoods, respecting children’s personhood as young people. Children’s childhoods involve both being a child and becoming more grown up. Children, like adults, are complex human beings, each shaped by the unique circumstances of their lives, with their own personalities, preferences, hopes, dreams, and fears. We view children as full and active participants in their own care and treatment, who want to be involved, listened to and heard. Children have the potential to understand and appreciate what is happening to them when adults make the effort to communicate in child-centred ways. Children also hold rich, personal knowledge about themselves and their lives which can aid adults in their care and treatment. In paying attention to children, we take seriously the intrinsic and instrumental power of play, both for children and the institutions in which they play. We aim to enable all children in the UK to have their right to play protected and provided for when they are receiving healthcare – in or out of hospital. While we provide play toolkits for play professionals and toys and technology for children in hospital, we are also working with NHS England on the recognition of the importance of play professionals and the introduction of guidance and standards for play.