International Sibling Partnership Summits
With financial support from SuperSibs powered by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, the Sibling Partnership for Advocacy, Research, and Care (SPARC), previously the Sibling Partnership for Advocacy, Research, and Care in Childhood Cancer (SPARCCC) has hosted three breakthrough International Sibling Partnership Summits.
The Inaugural Summit was held in the Fall of 2016, the second Summit was hosted in March 2018, and the third Summit was hosted in November 2023.
The purpose of these invitation-only conferences was to exponentially increase awareness of ongoing research regarding siblings and families of children with cancer, stimulate collaboration and partnerships among researchers, and ensure the development of evidence-based sibling support strategies that can be disseminated to organizations and institutions serving families facing childhood cancer.
2023 Sibling Partnership Summit
The Third International Sibling Summit was sponsored by SPARC and SuberSibs, powered by Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). The Summit took place from November 3-5, 2023, in Chicago, and attendees included researchers, clinicians, community organizations, and families with expertise in siblings' psychosocial adjustment to cancer.
The objective was to stimulate collaboration and partnerships among researchers, clinicians, families, and community partners, in an effort to ensure the development of evidence-based sibling support strategies that can be disseminated to organizations and institutions serving families facing childhood illness.
Discussions included research review, overview of clinical efforts, understanding of barriers to care, needs for cultural and linguistic inclusivity, expand awareness to administrators, identify next steps in research and advocacy, continue to engage the voices of siblings throughout our efforts.
2018 Sibling Partnership Summit
The Second International Sibling Summit was sponsored by SPARCCC and SuberSibs, powered by Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). The purpose of this conference was to identify strategies to improve psychosocial screening for siblings of cancer, which was one of the research priorities identified at the inaugural Summit in November 2016. The Summit took place from March 22-24, 2018 in Chicago, and attendees were researchers, clinicians, community organizations, and families with expertise in siblings' psychosocial adjustment to cancer.
