Finding Resources for Childhood Cancer with the Hope Portal

By Mandy Spielvogle Powell, Managing Director of CAC2

In a world turned upside down by the words “your child has cancer”, the need for resources for childhood cancer, information, and support is more necessary than ever. Fortunately, across the childhood cancer community, many dedicated non-profit organizations have committed to providing beacons of hope.

However, families need more than just an internet search engine to find help and simplify the process for families and non-profits to find one another. The Hope Portal cuts through the chaos, fear, and loneliness to ease the burden felt by caregivers and help them find the childhood cancer resources they need, all while assisting non-profit organizations in achieving their mission of support.

What is the Hope Portal?

The Hope Portal is a searchable database featuring nearly 400 nonprofit organizations across the United States and Canada that serve childhood cancer families. It includes information about nonprofits that provide financial support, emotional support, and information resources for families at various stages of their cancer journey. Users can search the platform using a variety of categories, including geographic location, diagnosis, and type of support needed. Whether it is help with a bill or an opportunity for a sibling, the Hope Portal covers it all.

How Does the Hope Portal Work?

The Hope Portal is a tool for childhood cancer families to find the nonprofits that provide the services they need. The platform makes it easy to find resources that address the challenges and meet the unique needs of childhood and adolescent cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, and siblings. Nonprofit organizations that serve this community are invited to add their organization’s information and resources to the Hope Portal. A team of volunteers reviews each organization to ensure its legitimacy and that the resources it offers are free for the family in need.

Those seeking resources, whether it be a caregiver or a social worker, can search the Hope Portal by selecting the criteria that fit their unique situation. Category options are plentiful and include camps, scholarships, and online support. Users can choose as many or as few categories as they like, and search geographically. Families in need of travel assistance for treatment or bill support can also find resources across the categories.

Why Use the Hope Portal to Find Resources for Childhood Cancer?

The benefit of a centralized resource database is significant. For families, it eases the burden of endless online searching. Access to a verified, comprehensive database such as the Hope Portal can not only support their immediate needs, but also may identify resources they had not yet realized were available.

For the nonprofit partners, the ability to share resources and reach families is always the top priority. By appearing on the Hope Portal, the nonprofits can further fulfill their missions and reach more families when they are needed most.

Who Makes the Hope Portal Possible?

First created by Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the Hope Portal was relaunched in 2018 through a collaborative effort between the Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Nurses (APHON), the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers (APOSW), KBI Biopharma, and the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2).

CAC2 works closely with the Hope Portal host platform, Anddit, and a dedicated team of volunteers to maintain a robust list of resources and continuously improve the experience for users and non-profits. Guided by our core value to always put the children and families first in everything that we do, the Hope Portal directly serves the CAC2 mission to ensure that the childhood cancer community benefits from greater levels of coordinated action and collaboration to drive better outcomes for patients and their families.

Find Childhood Cancer Organizations and Resources for Childhood Cancer

The parents of a five-year-old child currently in treatment in California recently shared that they use the Hope Portal to find resources and love that it has so many in one place. This is exactly why the Hope Portal exists – to connect families and nonprofit organizations so that families can eliminate the challenge of finding the resources they need.

We invite you to experience the Hope Portal for yourself and the benefit of a centralized, searchable database. Visit the Hope Portal today (and bookmark the page!) at https://cac2.org/interest-groups/family-support/hope-portal/.

Organizations interested in including their information on the Hope Portal can visit https://hopeportal.anddit.com/ and select the “Sign Up” button in the top right corner of the page. Organizations are also invited to embed the Hope Portal on their own website. Instructions can be found here.

To learn more about the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2), visit cac2.org.

**Statements on this blog reflect the author’s personal opinion and do not represent the views of Ryan’s Case for Smiles. They are also not to be viewed as personal medical advice, but rather for the purpose of general knowledge. The reader should speak to their healthcare team, or their child’s, for medical advice.**

About the Author: Mandy Spielvogle Powell is the Managing Director for the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2) a coalition of childhood cancer organizations and individual advocates representing 38 states and 8 countries. CAC2 organizes its work around the interests that the CAC2 members share: Advocacy & Awareness, Research & Treatment, Family Support, and Survivorship.  As Managing Director, Mandy works to promote coordinated action and broad-based collaboration among members, supporting the facilitation of opportunities for our community to learn from experts and from each other within each pillar.