Listening and Deciding: Children’s Rights in Paediatric Palliative Care

Paediatric palliative care has been defined as a total care addressed to the child’s body, mind and spirit. Listening to children is pivotal not only for what concerns symptoms’ control, but also for comprehending psychological, social and spiritual needs, and for guaranteeing their right to participate in the care process that affects them. The aims of the chapter are both to discuss what listening to children with verbal capacity aged 3–8, in palliative care, discloses and how children, even those without verbal capacity, can be involved in the decision-making process. We will present the results of a systematic review of qualitative studies involving children who experienced palliative care. We then discuss advance care planning and the child’s assent as means for an effective children’s participation within paediatric palliative care decision-making.