About This
Initiative
The Texas Child Life Licensing Task Force is a professional advocacy effort led by certified Child Life Specialists committed to protecting children, families, and the integrity of our profession.
Patient Safety
Ensuring families receive care from qualified professionals
Family Trust
Building confidence through clear professional standards
Professional Integrity
Protecting the Child Life Specialist title and credential
Our Mission
To establish state licensure for Child Life Specialists in Texas, creating clear standards for professional practice and protecting the title "Child Life Specialist" from misuse.
Why Licensure Matters
When families enter a hospital, they place their trust in the professionals caring for their children during their most vulnerable moments. Parents deserve the assurance that anyone providing psychosocial support to their child has met rigorous standards of training and competency. Licensure creates that guarantee.
Without title protection, anyone—regardless of qualifications—can claim to be a Child Life Specialist. This puts families at risk of receiving care from individuals who lack the specialized education in child development, trauma-informed practice, and evidence-based interventions that authentic Child Life training provides. Children experiencing medical trauma deserve professionals who are held to verifiable standards of excellence.
Licensure protects families by ensuring only properly trained professionals can use the Child Life Specialist title. It gives parents confidence that the person supporting their child through surgery preparation, painful procedures, or end-of-life care has completed years of supervised clinical training and maintains ongoing professional standards—not just someone who decided to call themselves a specialist.
Our Approach
We believe in collaborative advocacy, working with healthcare organizations, academic institutions, and policymakers to develop thoughtful, practical licensure standards.
We are committed to transparency, evidence-based advocacy, and respect for the diverse perspectives within our profession.
Meet the Task Force Leadership
Cinda McDonald, M.Ed., CCLS, GCCA-C, CTRS-C
Task Force Chair
Cinda McDonald, M.Ed., CCLS, GCCA-C, CTRS-C, is the system director of Baylor Scott & White Palliative Care Child Life Services, the largest hospital-based team of its kind, exclusively supporting children loved by seriously ill adult patients. She serves as the Chairperson for the Texas Child Life Licensing Task Force, advocating for title and scope protection, but most importantly to protect those we serve and support.
Tricia Feldman, BS, CCLS, GCCA-C, CTRS-C
Research Lead
Tricia Feldman, BS, CCLS, GCCA-C, CTRS-C, is a certified child life specialist with 14 years of experience, including eight years as a palliative care child life specialist at Baylor Scott & White Health. She serves as the Research Lead for the Texas Child Life Licensing Task Force, providing evidence-based and experiential insight on the positive impact of licensure for children, families, and child life specialists across Texas.
Katie Taylor, CCLS, CEIM
Communications Lead
Katie Taylor is the co-founder and CEO of Child Life On Call, a digital platform revolutionizing pediatric healthcare by putting parents at the center of the medical journey. With over 15 years of experience as a certified child life specialist, Katie has made significant contributions to the field of child life and the families she's served with over a decade of working at the bedside. She is an accomplished author, engaging child life and entrepreneurship speaker, and the Inside the Children's Hospital podcast host. Katie's work emphasizes the vital role of child life services in supporting caregivers and enhancing children's medical journeys through empowering parents.
Lauren Shinn, CCLS
Outreach Lead
Lauren Shinn is a Certified Child Life Specialist who has provided direct patient- and family-centered care for over 10 years in pediatric healthcare settings and continues to maintain her CCLS credential. In her current role within an academic research environment, Lauren supports multidisciplinary teams in collaborating across disciplines, an approach known to help address complex challenges in society. Her background spans child life practice, development, and entrepreneurship, bringing a systems-oriented perspective to problem-solving and field-building efforts. Lauren is committed to advancing the child life profession and supporting thoughtful policy and licensure pathways that strengthen the workforce and the families it serves.
Children's Hospital Association of Texas (CHAT)
"Statutory licensure can enhance a patient's experience and improve the quality of care for our most vulnerable."
— Troy L. Duker, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy
Representing eleven free-standing, nonprofit children's hospitals across Texas