How a long-term community partnership reshaped care for young families - Children's National

Building meaningful partnerships with patients takes time, trust and a willingness to share power. A new family partnerships article from Children's National Hospital shows what that commitment can look like in practice, drawing on a five-year collaboration designed to support pregnant and parenting teens through a community engaged model rooted in lived experience.

Led by pediatrician Yael Smiley, MD, the article is co-written with three young parents who have been part of the partnership since its earliest days. Together, they tell the story of a "context team," a group of young parents whose firsthand experiences helped shape clinical services, research priorities and advocacy efforts across the institution. Rather than serving only as advisors, these parents were embedded as co-leaders, influencing decisions and outcomes over time.

Moving beyond consultation to true partnership

Community engaged research is widely recognized as essential for advancing quality care. Still, detailed case studies that show how long-term partnerships function and evolve remain limited. This work helps fill that gap by documenting the structure, deliverables and outcomes of a sustained academic community collaboration.

Over five years, the context team informed how care was delivered, how research questions were framed and how policies affecting young families were approached. The article traces the relationships that formed between patients, hospital staff and community partners, highlighting what it takes to build trust and maintain momentum across years, not just months.

Why this approach benefits patients

Including patients as co-leaders in research, policy and clinical care benefits everyone involved. For the young parents on the context team, the partnership created opportunities for growth, leadership development and professional advancement. For the health system, centering lived experience led to more responsive programs and systems that better reflect the realities of the families they serve.

The authors emphasize that when those most impacted by health care systems help guide them, the resulting care is stronger, more relevant and more sustainable.

A model for the field and for Children's National

As interest in community engaged research continues to grow, this work offers a practical roadmap for others aiming to build similar partnerships. By sharing concrete lessons from a five-year collaboration, the article moves the field beyond theory toward implementation.

Projects like this also reflect a broader shift underway at Children's National, where community engaged research efforts are emerging across departments and disciplines. Together, they point toward a future where patients are not just participants in research and care, but partners in shaping it.

Read the full study "The Context Team: Partnering with Young Parents " in Pediatrics. Additional authors from Children's National include Haley Bliss, MD and Christiana Jolda, LICSW.