Les 6èmes Rencontres de Soins Palliatifs Pédiatriques

An event you won’t want to miss! Following previous editions in: Toulouse in 2016, Lyon in 2017, Lille in 2019, Paris in 2022, and Arcachon in 2024, the 6th Pediatric Palliative Care Conference will take place in Angers on October 15 and 16, 2026, focusing on communication in pediatric palliative care: “Young Patients, Important Conversations.” Whether you are a healthcare or medical-social professional, a patient and family advocacy group, an institution or local government, a company, a benefits provider, or a bank: become a partner of the Pediatric Palliative Care Conference and showcase your commitment to participants and partners. Overarching Theme of the 6th Conference Communication has become a cornerstone of the skills expected of healthcare professionals in recent years because it ensures that patients remain active participants in their care journey and receive a higher quality of care. In pediatric palliative care, communication is an essential tool of the discipline. But why is the focus on what might seem like a simple modality so important? What challenges does this reveal? How does the proximity to death—which is, by its very nature, incommunicable—make communication in pediatric palliative care so unique? Between dialogue with parents and medical information, between children who do not speak and adolescents who sometimes express themselves forcefully, between moments of solitude for healthcare professionals and multidisciplinary team meetings, we will reflect on why and how this tool becomes a practice—an ethical practice. We will examine the specific characteristics it entails depending on the setting of care: home, hospital, medical-social facility, etc. We will explore the time it takes, the dynamic process it sets in motion, and the creativity it fosters. We will examine the biases that shape the way we communicate. We will examine the persistence with which we, as caregivers, “talk” in response to the limitations of scientific discourse. For while communication is essential for high-quality pediatric palliative care, it cannot claim to reduce suffering—or its sometimes violent manifestations—in the face of a child’s impending death. Over two days in Angers, together with you—professionals from the healthcare, private practice, and medical-social sectors, including nurses, physical therapists, physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, …etc., we will focus on those carefully chosen words and necessary silences that undeniably place the seriously ill child and their family at the heart of palliative care.