Each wish-granting situation is a unique experience for the child, their family, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. However, there is a general process by which a child is referred, qualified, and granted a wish.
First Step - Wish Referral
The Make-A-Wish Foundation® accepts wish referrals from one of several potential referral sources:
- The child
- The child's parent(s) or legal guardian(s)
- A medical professional treating the child, such as a doctor, nurse, social worker, or child-life specialist
If the initial call comes from someone other than those listed above, we always ask that the family be notified to call directly on their own behalf.
Second Step - Determining Eligibility
Children over the age of 2˝ and under 18 with a life-threatening medical condition are potentially eligible for a wish. After a child is referred to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, the Foundation will contact the child's treating physician to determine if the child is medically eligible for a wish, based on the medical criteria established by the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America. In addition, a child cannot have received a wish from another wish-granting organization.
Third Step - Identifying the Wish
After the doctor confirms that the child is medically eligible, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® assigns a volunteer wish team to coordinate the wish-granting process. When a wish team first visits with a child, the volunteers begin by asking a simple question: "If you could have one wish, what would it be?" Most wishes fall into one of four categories: "I want to go to...," "I want to be...," "I want to meet...," or "I want to have..." Once the chapter approves the child's wish, the wish team sets out to make it come true.
Fourth Step - Granting the Wish
After talking with the child, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® wish granters set out to create a magical wish experience for the child that will last a lifetime. Every effort is made to include the immediate family in the child's wish. The wish experience often touches dozens, and sometimes hundreds of people who either help coordinate or are directly involved in the wish.
The wish experiences created by the Make-A-Wish Foundation® are made possible only through the support of generous donors and more than 200 volunteers in New Hampshire and 25,000 volunteers around the world.
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