Mobility & Transfers
Safe, respectful help for a child who needs assistance to move, change position or get from place to place.
Overview
Understanding Mobility & Transfers at Home
Some children need help to sit, stand, change position or move between a bed, a chair, a wheelchair, the bath and the car.
Transfers are those moments of moving a child from one place to another. Depending on the child, they may involve a lift and sling, a transfer board or hands-on help from trained people.
Positioning through the day matters too — changes of position support comfort, breathing, digestion and skin, and are part of most children's care plans.
How a child is moved and positioned is set by their physical and occupational therapists and their doctor, and it is revisited as the child grows.
- Care follows your child's physician-ordered plan
- A care need, not a diagnosis
- Support for the whole family, not only the child
- Care that fits around ordinary family life
Support at home
What Families May Need Support With
What support at home may look like, where it is ordered by your child's physician.
Caregivers help with transfers and positioning through the day, following the plan the therapy team has set for that child.
Skin, comfort and posture are watched closely, and changes are reported before they become problems.
Families are supported to use equipment confidently, including when a growing child moves to new equipment and everything familiar changes at once.
It protects parents' bodies too. Lifting a growing child many times a day is a well-known source of caregiver injury, and sharing that work matters.
The team stays coordinated with physical and occupational therapy, so what happens at home reinforces what happens in therapy.
Safety and Monitoring
Care that follows the plan
Nursing care is carried out as your child's physician has ordered it.
Changes noticed early
What the nurse sees day to day is passed on to your child's medical team.
Families prepared, not left alone
Parents learn the routine alongside the team, at their own pace.
Related Services
Personal Care & Support Services
Hands-on help with bathing, dressing, moving and the daily routines a child needs support with.
Pediatric Skilled Nursing
Nursing care for medically complex children, delivered at home instead of in a hospital room.
Complex Pediatric Care
Coordinated home care for children whose needs cross breathing, feeding, neurology and daily living.
Related conditions
Related Conditions in Children
Diagnoses where this care need often comes up. Having one does not mean a child needs this care.
Helpful Resources
Related guides and resources
- A Parent's Guide to Cerebral Palsy in Children
A lifelong difference in how the brain sends movement signals, affecting posture, balance and muscle tone.
- A Parent's Guide to Spina Bifida in Children
A difference in how the spine formed before birth, affecting movement, sensation and bladder and bowel routines.
- Your Guide to the Georgia Pediatric Program
What GAPP is, who it serves, how requests are reviewed, and how to start a conversation.
- The Parent Caregiver Pathway
What the parent caregiver route involves, and why it is not available to every family.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our child is getting heavier and lifting is getting hard. What can help?
This is one of the most common turning points families reach, and it is worth raising with your child's physical or occupational therapist. They assess what equipment and techniques suit your child and your home, and trained help with transfers takes a real share of the physical load.
Will using equipment hold back our child's own movement?
Equipment is generally chosen to support what a child can do, not to replace it, and therapists weigh exactly this when they recommend it. Ask your child's therapy team how their plan balances independence with safety for your child.
Can our home be made easier to move around in?
Often yes. Occupational therapists look at layout, bathrooms, bedrooms and doorways and suggest changes, some of them small. A home care team sees the daily reality and can flag the specific points in the day where the house is working against you.
About this information
This page is general information for families, written in plain language by the WeLIVE Healthcare team. It is not medical advice and does not replace the judgment of your child’s physician, who knows your child. Always talk with your child’s care team about their specific needs.
We're Here to Support Your Family.
Tell us a little about your child and our team will follow up to talk through care options at home.
Requesting a screening is not an application for Medicaid and does not determine eligibility.