Child Life Specialist Job Description for Recruiters

To effectively recruit a child life specialist who will enrich your healthcare team and bring comfort to young patients, it's essential to craft a precise and compelling job description. This entails understanding the core responsibilities and qualities that define this role. In this article, we will guide you through the key components of a Child Life Specialist job description to attract candidates who can make a meaningful impact.

What Is a Child Life Specialist?

A child life specialist is a healthcare professional dedicated to reducing the stress and anxiety of children and their families during medical experiences. They use play, education, and therapeutic activities to support young patients emotionally and psychologically, adapting to each child's needs and developmental stage. Additionally, they provide coping strategies for families, facilitate communication with healthcare providers, and help siblings understand medical challenges. Their main objective is to create a supportive, child-friendly environment, ensuring children feel comfortable and empowered.

Where to Find a Child Life Specialist?

• The Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) maintains directories and job boards.
• Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) often register through ACLP networks.
• Pediatric hospital HR pages, hospital system recruitment sites, and healthcare job aggregators.
• Specialty pediatric care networks or child health systems.
• University/academic programs in child development, human development, psychology, or child life specialization often have internship or alumni networks.
• Use LinkedIn to search for “Child Life Specialist” or “CCLS” profiles.
• Post on healthcare-oriented job boards and groups (e.g., pediatric care, child life, hospital networks).

Child Life Specialist Job Description Template

We are seeking a compassionate, kind, and personable child life specialist to join our team! The ideal candidate must demonstrate a strong passion for helping children to live their best lives during and after injury or illness, as well as having excellent communication skills and well-developed interpersonal skills. The role's key focus is to support children and their families through the challenges and anxiety that come with being injured or sick for extended periods of time.

Child Life Specialist Responsibilities:

• Communicate effectively with children and their families to provide support, assistance, and counseling to them during or after a lengthy injury or illness.
• Ease the anxiety and stress that naturally come with long-term illness or hospitalization.
• Develop plans that assist the child and family with maintaining a living schedule as close to normal as possible.
• Create opportunities for play and interaction for the children.
• Encourage regular family involvement in activities, interaction, and personalized and dedicated attention.
• Assist with the development of coping mechanisms.
• Provide education to families on how to overcome and deal with the stress, trauma, and anxiety of having a long-term illness, injury, or hospitalization of a child.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in child development, psychology, human development, education, or related field required
• Certification as a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) is preferred or must be obtained within a specified timeframe
• Completion of a minimum 600-hour supervised child life internship (or equivalent)
• Experience working in pediatric healthcare settings is a plus
• Proficiency in documentation, electronic medical record systems, and collaboration

Required Skills:

• Good interpersonal and relationship-building skills
• Kind and compassionate in nature
• Creative and out-of-the-box thinker
• Effective planning and prioritization skills
• Good time management skills
• Ability to coach, mentor, and educate others

Challenges in Hiring a Child Life Specialist

• Because certification (CCLS) and 600 internship hours are prerequisites, many potential candidates are eliminated early.
• Many hospitals require certification or willingness to become certified, and many candidates must complete internships first.
• Working with children in medical crises can produce emotional stress, secondary trauma, and high burnout risk. Recruiters may see turnover or gaps.
• Not all hospitals or administrators fully grasp the value of a child life program, leading to underinvestment or reluctance to create or fill positions.
• Some candidates may not be willing to relocate, narrowing the effective recruitment radius.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire?

• According to Indeed’s 2025 update, average national salaries for child life roles are around $68,736/yr (in the U.S.), and demand is growing.
• Hourly rates in the U.S. currently range from $22.49 to $33.22/hr in some roles. Annually, the salary would depend on full-time equivalent (e.g., 40 hours × 52 weeks).
• Benefits: health insurance, retirement contributions, paid leave, continuing education support, licensure/certification fees
• Overhead: workspace, supplies, play materials, administrative support, training, supervision
• Advertising job postings (specialized boards, association listings)
• Agency or headhunter fees, if used
• Time cost of HR, hiring managers for screening, and interviews
• Background checks, credential verification
• Onboarding, orientation, training

Conclusion

Recruiting a child life specialist is a specialized process that demands thoughtful planning, realistic budgeting, and an understanding of both the emotional and technical requirements of the role. A robust child life specialist job description helps set clear expectations, attract suitable candidates, and justify the investment. By sourcing through professional networks, academic pipelines, and healthcare associations, and by offering competitive compensation and support, recruiters can better overcome the challenges of scarcity, certification barriers, and retention pressures. When starting your next recruitment, use the template above, tailor it to your institution’s needs, and be prepared to articulate to leadership the value that a child life specialist brings to pediatric care outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What should a recruiter include in a child life specialist job description to attract top talent?

A: You should include a clear role purpose, required qualifications (e.g., CCLS, internship), key duties (therapeutic play, preparation, assessment), performance metrics, and benefits to make the Child Life Specialist Job Description compelling and transparent.

Q: How does the child life specialist job description differ from a standard pediatric social worker description?

A: The Child Life Specialist Job Description emphasizes developmental interventions (play, preparation for medical procedures) and psychosocial support specific to children, whereas social worker roles may lean more on counseling across broader populations.

Q: How does experience level factor into a child life specialist's job description?

A: You may create tiers (entry, mid, senior) within the Child Life Specialist Job Description with varying expectations, supervision levels, or leadership duties to broaden your candidate pool.

Q: What is the role of location or shift flexibility in a child life specialist's job description?

A: Because child life work often requires nights, weekends, or flexibility, including schedule flexibility in the Child Life Specialist Job Description helps ensure candidates understand and accept the work demands.