Resources to Support Siblings

These links will connect families to organizations that are devoted to supporting the siblings of children with chronic illness. Families can find workshops, support groups, stories, and toolkits to help them to manage the complex feelings and experiences of healthy siblings.

Camps can be a powerful way for healthy siblings to connect with others in similar situations, and to feel validated and supported. Many disease-specific camps offer weeks for healthy siblings. The below links will connect families with some of these camp opportunities.

Picture books can help young healthy siblings to grasp what is happening with their brother or sister, and to feel safe and reassured. Caregivers may want to read these books to young siblings before a baby's arrival, or when the child is preparing for a baby's hospitalization or procedure.

• Doctors Help Baby, by Jenna Pratt and Dana Langston, self-published, available in English and Spanish

• Hi, My Name is Jack, by Christina Beall-Sullivan, Bopar Books

• My Brother Needs an Operation, by Anna Jaworski, Baby Hearts Press

• Oh, Brother!, by Natalie Hale, Magination Press

• Our New Baby is in the NICU, by Lindsey Luckey

• When Molly Was in the Hospital, by Debbie Duncan and Nina Ollikainen, Rayve Productions

• When She Was Sick, by Anna Batz

• The Perfect Shelter, by Clare Helen Welsh

These books help to capture the experience of healthy children who grow up with a chronically-ill sibling. By reading these and similar books, siblings can feel that their feelings and experiences are valid and normal.

• Abby, Tried and True, by Donna Gephart, Simon and Schuster

• The Great Upending, by Beth Kephart, Atheneum Books

• Living with a Brother or Sister with Special Needs, by Donald Meyer and Patricia Vadasy, University of Washington Press

• Love Like Sky, by Leslie Youngblood, Little, Brown Books

• The Sibling Slam Book, by Don Meyer, Woodbine House Press

• Special Brothers and Sisters, edited by Monica McAffrey and Annette Hames, Jessica Kingsley Publishers

• Things I Should Have Known, by Claire LaZebnik, HMH Books for Young Readers

• Upside Down and Backwards: A Sibling's Journey through Childhood Cancer, by Julie Greves, Magination Press

• Views from our Shoes, collected by Don Meyer, Woodbine House Press

Parents often wonder how to support all their children when one child has a heart defect. While there is no easy answer, these books may help provide parents with some insight and guidance.

• Brothers and Sisters: A Special Part of Exceptional Families, by Peggy Gallagher and Thomas Powell, Brookes Publishing

• In the Shadow of Illness, by Myra Bluebond-Langner

• Siblings Without Rivalry, by Adele Frazier and Elaine Mazlish, W.W. Norton and Company Press

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