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The Clinical Internship Program for Child Life Specialists at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center has recently become the first program in New York City to be accredited by the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP). This accreditation is the highest honor for Child Life Clinical Internship Programs, with only 33 programs recognized nationally to date.

“With this recognition, we will bring in more applicants seeking internship experiences that meet the clinical standards of the ACLP,” said Rechelle Porter, director of Child Life at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “We are aligning our goals along with strategic plan of ALCP to improve professional practice of future child life specialists.”

The ACLP advances the field of Child Life by establishing and maintaining professional standards, enhancing the professional growth and development of members and advancing credibility of the Child Life profession by fostering research and promoting the efficacy of Child Life practice.

All accredited programs must meet the essential criteria set forth by the ACLP, to ensure that the program meets the highest standards amongst Child Life specialists. These categories include Internship Structure, Professional Responsibility, Assessment, and Clinical Interventions. The application is a four-month process and includes an extensive review of program guides and materials. Accreditations last for five years before they are up for renewal.

The Child Life program at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital provides emotional and psychosocial care to help make the hospital experience as manageable as possible for children and their family members. The Child Life Department includes accredited specialists who apply their child development expertise to help your child understand, cope with and master his or her medical experiences.

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, located in New York City, offers the best available care in every area of pediatrics — including the most complex neonatal and critical care, and all areas of pediatric subspecialties — in a family-friendly and technologically advanced setting. Building a reputation for more than a century as one of the nation’s premier children’s hospitals, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is Manhattan’s only hospital dedicated solely to the care of children and one of the largest providers of children’s health services in the tri-state area with a long-standing commitment to its community. It is also a major international referral center, meeting the special needs of children from infancy through adolescence worldwide. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Westchester Division, NewYork-Presbyterian The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital. The hospital is also closely affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area, according to U.S. News & World Report, and consistently named to the magazine’s Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation. For more information, visit www.nyp.org.