AAP Liaison

Mission and Goals: The role of the ACLP Liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Health Care is to:

• Represent ACLP in all proceedings of the Committee, including facilitating the ongoing review, update, and publication of the “Child Life Services” AAP policy statement
• Solicit, organize, summarize, and submit comments from ACLP leadership on other AAP policy statements that address child life services or other hospital services of direct relevance to child life

Academic Review Committee

Committee Charge: 

The charge of the Academic Review Committee (ARC) is to utilize the program standards and recommendations to manage undergraduate and graduate program endorsement. Responsibilities include:

• In partnership with ACLP staff, select and orient academic endorsement reviewers
• Ensure completion of review assignments in an accurate and timely manner
• Determine policies and procedures and manage processes regarding endorsement eligibility, application review and approvals, maintenance, renewals, and appeals
• Document endorsement policies, procedures, and decisions

Furthermore, the committee is responsible for enforcing the standards outlined by endorsement for the protection of both students and the credibility of the child life profession. We also work to promote endorsement visibility.

Awards Committee

Mission and Goals:  The mission of the Awards Committee is to:

• Present the ACLP Board of Directors with the recommended winner for the Distinguished Service Award and the Mary Barkey Clinical Excellence Award.
• Select recipients of the ACLP’s International Conference Scholarship.
• Select recipients of the Diversity Scholarship for internships three times a year.
• Select recipients of the Student and Professional Research Awards.
• Select recipients of the One Person Program Conference Scholarship

Bulletin

Mission and Goals: 

The mission of the Bulletin Committee is to produce the ACLP Bulletin and to develop the publication to become a valuable professional resource focusing on issues of interest to clinicians, administrators, educators, and students in the child life field.

The group fulfills this mission in several ways:

• produces quarterly issues of ACLP Bulletin in conjunction with ACLP staff
• solicits and develops ideas for ACLP Bulletin and features that discuss issues of interest to the child life community, with an emphasis on increasing the scholarship, innovation, and visibility of child life work
• acquires, reviews, and strengthens meaningful content for the publication
• partners with relevant ACLP committees and task forces to disseminate information about strategic planning and ongoing initiatives
• documents milestones and achievements within the child life community

Bulletin Subcommittees

Bulletin (Editors Only)

Benchmarking Committee

Mission: To develop and oversee a benchmarking and research datacenter; and provide data to support staff ratios on revised a AAP Statement

Certification Commission and Committees

Mission and Goals: The mission of the Certification Commission is to:

• Maintain a quality certification program for the child life profession.
• Work with ACLP staff and testing agency to oversee the certification process
• Review and update policies
• Develop and revise certification examination through job analysis studies and the management of item development and exam assembly work groups

COMMITTEES:
Appeals Committee
Ethics Committee
Exam Assembly Committee
Item Writing Committee
Item Review Committee
Recertification Audit Committee
Communications Committee

Community Based Practice Committee

Mission and Goals: The role of the Community Based/Non-Traditional Role Committee is to:

• Provide oversight, guidance, and support to a variety of child life practices and services that exist outside of the traditional inpatient/outpatient hospital setting.
• Explore ways to engage the various practices, and identify issues relevant to their work
• Work in partnership with the ACLP to identify and recommend any actions or initiatives that the ACLP can address to support the needs of the community based practitioners.

• Explore opportunities for standards and supervision for practitioners.

Conference Program Committee

Mission and Goals: The mission of the Conference Program Committee is to:

• Select presentations for the conference program and assist the ACLP staff in planning, organizing and conducting the ACLP annual conference.
• Develop conference program content and recommend major speakers for board approval
• Assist with on-site logistics
• Assist in securing exhibitors and sponsorships
• Review evaluation results for each conference and suggest improvements for future programs

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Committee Charge: This Committee is charged with ensuring continuing progress toward the vision of the Association’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The Committee will set priorities and provide guidance to ACLP in the design and implementation of a dynamic suite of activities and resources to help ACLP members gain the skills necessary to meet the needs of and reflect the diverse communities they serve, recognizing that truly effective diversity, equity and inclusion work is never finished. The Committee will ensure that DEI activities are closely aligned with ACLP strategic priorities and responsive to the diverse needs and capabilities of the child life community. The Committee will actively encourage ACLP members to participate in and contribute to these activities. In recommending new programs and products, the Committee will consider and seek to address the resource implications of these activities.

Responsibilities:

The Committee will work with ACLP staff to:

• Conduct an annual review of ACLP’s position statement and priorities on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Serve as ambassador and provide support to ensure organizational alignment with ACLP Strategic Plan
• Assist the ACLP Board and other Board committees, as requested, in incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion into the association’s strategic goals and objectives
• Monitor the progress and process of diversity, inclusion, and equity work led by ACLP
• Maintain a global and inclusive view of diversity and equity
• Identify resources to promote personal reflection and/or professional development in the areas of identity, privilege, bias, racism, any/all forms of discrimination to strengthen ACLP Marketing & Communications, annual conference, online education, membership experience and certification considerations
• Help ACLP recruit and retain a diverse membership base

Education and Training Committee

Mission and Goals:

• Provide linkages between academic and clinical programs
• evaluate challenges in the process of becoming a child life specialist
• provide support to emerging professionals through identification of resources that may be helpful

Finance Committee

Mission and Goals: The mission of the Finance Committee is to: 

• Monitor the financial health of the ACLP
• Ensure that ACLP assets are protected and resources are used properly
• Ensure that ACLP complies with all applicable laws and reporting requirements

Governance Committee

Governance Committee Charge:

The Governance Committee will conduct an ongoing review of the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) governing documents and related governing processes. This committee will make necessary updates to these documents and processes as indicated to help ensure compliance with legal requirements and association business standards; as well as keeping current the professional and ethical standards related to Child Life Practitioner competency and scope of practice.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a process for maintenance and updating of the bylaws with support and input from ACLP executive leadership and other experts as needed.
• Ensure the Bylaws and Policies & Procedures Manual comply with Maryland state corporate law, the Articles of Incorporation, and any applicable federal laws or statutes.
• Maintenance of the Official Documents-Review existing documents, make recommendations for updates/edits and implement process for continuing revision.
• Oversight of ACLP’s Policy and Procedure Manual to include identification and development of new policies per protocol, and review and editing of existing policies either per schedule, or per ACLP Board of Directors request.   
• Review and provide recommendations of other key governance documents as identified by ACLP executive leadership and board of directors.
• Establish and maintain a process whereby all related governing documents will be reviewed and updated on a regular and consistent cycle. These documents will primarily consist of, but are not limited to, the Association Bylaws, Policy and Procedure Manual, and The Official Documents (i.e. Child Life Competencies, Standards of Practice, Position Statements).

Internship Accreditation Oversight Committee

• Manage ACLP internship accreditation process in collaboration with ACLP office
• Oversee Internship Accreditation Reviewers

Board Diversification Task Force

Task Force Charge: The charge of the task force is to identify barriers to the diversification of ACLP’s Board of Directors by increasing the Board’s understanding of the barriers, define the needs, and provide recommendations to the Board on strategies to deploy the support of increased diversification of the Board.   

Research Fellows

Journal of Child Life

The mission of the Journal Committee of the Association of Child Life Professionals is to produce The Journal of Child Life: Psychosocial Theory and Practice (JCL) and to develop the publication to become a valuable, peer-reviewed professional resource focusing on issues of interest to clinicians, administrators, educators and students in the child life field and others invested in the psychosocial care of children and families.

The group fulfills this mission in several ways:

• produces bi-annual issues of JCL with the end goal of producing issues on a quarterly basis to align with typical, scholarly journal frequency

• solicits and develops ideas for JCL content and features that discuss issues of interest to the child life community and others invested in the psychosocial care of children and families, with an emphasis on increasing the visibility of research and scholarship

• maintains integrity and accountability to authors, readers, and stakeholders in the process of blind peer review
• applies best practices in acquiring, reviewing, and strengthening manuscripts and materials for the publication

Journal Subcommittees:

Journal (Editors only)

Mentorship Committee

Mission and Goals:  The Mentorship Committee oversees and promotes the ACLP’s formal mentorship program for ACLP members.

• Learn about the functionality and aide in the integration and launch of the new mentorship platform.
• Provide input on the design of the ACLP’s new mentorship program (i.e., audience, goals, format, what success will look like) incorporating interested parties including but not limited to: aspiring professionals, child life specialists, academia, research, emerging leaders.
• Develop and/or revise learning objectives, content updates (handbook), guides for mentor tracks, general ACLP operational documents and website information that will accompany the process, as needed.
• Oversee matching systems to ensure pairs are functioning.
• Serve as ambassadors for the ACLP mentorship program and encourage participation. Educate membership on mentorship program features (i.e., aspiring professionals, flash mentoring, diversity mentoring).
• Evaluate mentorship program data and success of the program (i.e., individual learning, program health, mentoring connection activity) and make recommendations to the Board, as appropriate.
• In partnership with the Conference Planning Committee, recommend mentorship opportunities for the annual ACLP conference and subsequently secure presenters and create content for presentations.
• Coordinate monthly mentorship webinars (i.e., develop/solicit content, assist with scheduling).

Nominating Committee

Mission and Goals: The mission of the Nominating Committee is to:

• Facilitate the succession of ACLP Leadership.
• Provide a slate of qualified candidates for Board of Directors positions
• Administer the election process with ACLP staff
• Recommend members for committees and other leadership positions 

Past Presidents Advisory Group

Mission and Goals: The mission of the Past Presidents Advisory Group is to serve as a resource to the association, as requested by the current President.

Patient & Family Experience Committee

Mission and Goals: The role of this task force is to: 
 

• Formulate strategies to engage the Association of Child Life Professionals in the Patient and Family Experience work

• Propose and recommend partnership opportunities, identify possible pilot projects that will allow us to explore the impact of Child Life Specialists on the Patient Experience, evaluate ways to support the work of Child Life Specialists in relationship to the Patient and Family Experience, and recommend ways to increase our involvement and recognition in this work. 

Professional Resources Committee

Mission and Goals: The mission of the Professional Resources Sub-Committee is to:

• Ensure that ACLP is the undisputed resource for the child life profession
• Gather, evaluate, and create high-quality resources for use by members of the ACLP community
• Recommend publications, guidelines, position papers, or documents
• Review and evaluate external child life related publications/resources

Sub-Committee: Archives Sub Committee

Publications Committee

Committee Charge:

The mission of the Publications Committee is to facilitate the process of creating and maintaining all ACLP publications including books, white papers, and official documents.

Responsibilities:

Establish and maintain the ACLP editorial vision.

• Develop the overarching vision and strategic plan for all ACLP publications.
• Form definitions and guidelines to differentiate each type of publication.
• Create short-term and long-term goals for each publication.

• Ensure cohesiveness of publications.

• All publications share the same set of foundational qualities laid out by the editorial vision.
• Develop the guidelines for the look and feel of each type of publication. These guidelines should be incorporated into the ACLP brand standards.
• Responsible for maintaining the publication brand standards on all published materials.

  Maintain the highest quality standard of publication.

• Establish ACLP as the pre-eminent source of content and information related to child life by including evidence-based research in all publications.
• The quality of each publication is checked to ensure it meets the standards set forth by the editorial vision.

   

  Set publications policies and procedures.

• Establish processes and policies that outline the steps required for any individual / committee to publish a document for ACLP.
• Receive and evaluate publication requests from other committees providing feedback on audience, tone, format, etc.
• Review all draft publications for style, readability, and adherence to editorial policies and provide feedback to authors

  Oversee the process of acquiring authors and editors for publications.

• Prioritize diversity of authorship to ensure that multiple perspectives are included in each publication.
• Work with other ACLP committees to source potential authors and editors.

  Ongoing assessment of publications.

• Provide an ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of all ACLP publications and determine strategies to improve the ROI by implementing tactics such as eBooks, adding additional titles, etc.
• Conduct a publications audit which will be used to inform the creation of a high-level project plan to revise the necessary publications over time.