Families with a very ill child need help to get them through their very difficult situation. Volunteers can play an important role in the support network for such families. That is one of the results of a study commissioned by the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation to research the situation of families with a child sick from cancer. In this volume Ulrich Mack describes a concept developed to help those laypersons who are assisting in this care.Usually, many other people also belong to the circle of supportive persons available: relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, classmates, teachers, educators, clubmates, other parishioners. Many who want to help, however, see themselves confronted with the question: How can I really help? Persons outside the immediate family often react with shock at the news. The concept presented here shows how to remove inhibitions, create understanding for the anxieties and worries of the families affected, and provide the necessary information and competences necessary to truly help. Volunteer workers are thus qualified to undertake such support activities. Such preparation is important because there are so many different areas where helpers can become active. This includes practical acts such as visiting the family at home or in the hospital, helping out in the home and garden, taxiing the family to appointments, babysitting the other children and generally relieving the parents of everyday tasks. In addition there are pastoral duties: staying with the family through difficult situations, showing respect and sympathy for their worries and problems, strengthening their hopes and courage, providing for understanding in their social environment for their situation. A separate chapter is devoted to concrete forms of help that can be offered.For the church such volunteer work in crisis situations can be an important challenge. The individual parish has the task of providing help and pastoral care with all due sensitivity. To this end, Mack provides some basic thoughts on how this can be best done to ensure success.

Dr. theol. Ulrich Mack ist Pfarrer und Krankenhausseelsorger am Zentrum für Psychiatrie Bad Schussenried.