Child life internship

Position description

Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s child life internship is a paid experience that prepares eligible individuals for a career as a certified child life specialist. This 600-hour, 15-week role will engage the intern in observation and supervised facilitation of child life interventions to aid in addressing the emotional and developmental needs of patients and families through assessment, intervention, advocacy, and education. Successful completion of this internship qualifies individuals to sit for the Child Life Certification Exam.

Internship overview

• This internship is a paid, full-time position.
• The intern’s weekly schedule (40 hours) will be determined by the clinical rotation.

Interns will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the practices of child life
• Determine psychosocial needs of patients and families through a process of observation to gaining independence through rotations
• With supervision candidates will observe, participate, and facilitate: procedural preparations, coping, play, family support, and procedural support
• Engage in non-clinical interventions to enhance the patient's family experience
• Assist child life team in organizing hospital & unit-wide special events
• Participate in weekly meetings with rotation supervisors and internship coordinator
• Complete journals, readings, and additional assignments to further intern’s understanding of evidence-based practices

Eligibility Requirements

• Completed ACLP Internship Common Application with all requirements fulfilled (application, eligibility assessment and unofficial transcripts)
• Required education: All candidates must be in their senior (or final) year working towards a bachelor’s or master's degree
  • By the start of internship, interns must have successfully completed all courses required to sit for the child life certification exam as outlined by the Child Life Certification Commission. 
• Preferred education: Completed bachelor’s or master’s degree in child life or related major.
• GPA: Minimum of 3.0 GPA in both major and overall classes
• Experience: Minimum of one year of experience (paid or volunteer) with children in a health care related environment. Successful completion of ACLP internship eligibility requirements as stated in the Common Application and Eligibility Assessment.
• A demonstrated understanding of child development and child life theory.
• A child life pre-internship experience is not required to apply but preferred.
• We accept both affiliated and unaffiliated students.

Application process

1. Complete the ACLP Internship Common Application
   • Please include all pieces of the common application including the application, eligibility assessment, and unofficial transcripts.
2. Download the PDF of the completed common application and save as LastnameFirstnameSpring26.pdf
3. Apply to CHoR’s child life internship
   • Upload your completed common application PDF (as saved in the format above) in the "My Experience" section of the application where the Dropbox for "Resume/CV" is. Please upload your application here instead of your resume/CV. 
   • For the "My Experience" section, you may either manually enter your information or upload your resume to autofill the information - either option is acceptable to complete this section. Please note:
     • This section is required by our system to submit your application (because this is a paid internship).
     • The child life internship committee will only review your uploaded Common Application (not your resume) when determining eligibility and next steps. 

Apply today

Important dates

Following the application due date, you will be notified via email if you have been selected for our interview process. The applications will be reviewed by members of our internship committee.

Please note: due to high anticipated response, submitting an application does not guarantee an interview or internship.

If you are interested in the field of child life or have additional questions about our student programming, please email childlifestudents@vcuhealth.org