What Services Are Available?
Medical Care
Some hospitals have full teams trained in perinatal palliative care that can help create a care plan. Other hospitals have individual staff who can help in special cases to develop a birth plan. Hospice may also be available if needed.
Education
Teams can connect the family with experts who can explain the baby’s condition and determine what treatment options exist. This helps families make informed decisions.
Grief Support
Perinatal palliative care teams offer a safe space for families to talk about what they are going through. Families may be referred to trained counselors to talk about their feelings. Caregivers and siblings may receive grief support and resources available in their community.
Peer Support
Families can connect with others who have been through similar experiences. This can help them feel less alone.
Making Memories
Care programs can help families create memories, such as arranging photography, creating the baby’s ink footprint or recording the baby’s heartbeat.
How Does Perinatal Palliative Care Help?
Perinatal palliative care can assist families in several ways. Palliative care providers partner with other health care providers, such as maternal-fetal medicine specialists, obstetricians, neonatologists, surgeons, nurses, clergy, social workers, child life specialists, and hospice providers.
The goal is to provide comfort, quality care, and planning to ensure the woman, her baby, and her family experience the best care possible within a supportive environment. Categories of assistance include:
Information-Sharing
- Explaining the baby’s health problem in simple terms.
- Sharing information about the baby’s possible life expectancy.
- Discussing what to expect before, during and after delivery.
- Reviewing what life might look like if the baby lives days, months or years and what to expect with mental and physical function.
Decision-Making
- Understanding what each family values and what is most important to the family in caring for their baby.
- Helping families make medical and life plans and establish goals for the baby’s care.
Symptom Management
- Assessing the baby for any distressing symptoms such as pain or shortness of breath.
- Helping manage symptoms and decrease suffering.
Legacy Facilitation
- Assisting families with memory making such as arranging photography, creating the baby’s ink footprint or recording the baby’s heartbeat.
Emotional and Spiritual Support
- Supporting emotional and spiritual needs of all family members.
- Providing support for siblings experiencing the loss of their new baby sister or brother.
Care Coordination
- Helping medical teams communicate with each other and the family.
- Aiding families in smooth transitions between home and hospital settings.
- Connecting families with others who have been through similar situations.
Families can receive palliative supportive care while also choosing treatments that try to cure or improve the baby’s condition. Perinatal palliative care excludes any interventions that cause or quicken infant loss before or after birth.
What Resources Are Available?
Note for Providers
This material is provided in compliance with Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 161, Subchapter Z.
- For a copy of the Perinatal Palliative Care Informational handout that health care providers are required to distribute to patients, see the Perinatal Palliative Care One Pager.
- The Perinatal Palliative Care Certification Form is expected to be finalized by June 2026. HHSC will notify providers when the form is published and will provide a link to the form. To receive notifications, sign up here. For questions about the certification form, email HCR_PRU@hhs.texas.gov.
What Kind of State Assistance Is Available?
Texas has programs to help families with expenses, including medical care. While not specifically designed for perinatal palliative care, these programs may be able to help with certain needs.
Medicaid and CHIP
Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health coverage for children, families, older adults and people with disabilities who have low incomes. This coverage can provide services during a woman’s pregnancy and after a child is born.
Once the child is born, both Medicaid and CHIP cover services such as neonatal intensive care, palliative care, and hospice services. Eligibility for these programs is based on income, residency, citizenship, and other requirements.
For more details, visit the Medicaid for Pregnant Women and CHIP Perinatal page.
Thriving Texas Families
Thriving Texas Families is a statewide support network that provides a range of nonmedical services to pregnant women, their babies and families. The program also helps parents who experience a miscarriage or loss of a child. Services include counseling, mentoring, care coordination, educational materials, classes and referrals to governmental and social services programs.
For more information, visit the Thriving Texas Families webpage. To find a provider near you, use the Thriving Texas Families Providers Directory.