At the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, we believe that beyond quality medical care, successful health care relies on recognizing the impact an illness can have on your family, communicating effectively with your health care team, and taking advantage of available services. Our multi-disciplinary team helps you with all of this — and more.

How We Can Help
Social workers provide compassionate, professional, and culturally-sensitive assistance to help children and families cope with illness, injury, and disability. We help you deal with your child’s course of care and help defuse your family’s stress as much as possible. It’s our job to anticipate your every need and provide your family with emotional support, counseling, and resource assistance during your stay — and beyond.
Services We Provide
In addition to offering emotional support, our social workers can help coordinate the health care your child receives to make it as easy as possible for you. We can also help facilitate improvements your child might need at school or at home, solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives, and generally make things easier and less scary or overwhelming — especially for families of kids with chronic and/or serious illnesses.
Providing ongoing needs assessment, service coordination, information and referrals, consultation regarding custody and consent issues, and transition to adult care for kids with chronic conditions and complex illnesses.
Coordinating your child’s home health care and home equipment needs, providing referrals/placement in residential facilities, coordinating ambulance transportation and Medicaid transportation providers, referrals to and coordination with community services, and assisting with school services.
Helping your family cope with trauma, death, or a life-threatening/serious diagnosis by orienting you with the hospital and our services, mobilizing your support system, and providing end-of-life assistance. In cases of child abuse or domestic violence, we can help coordinate safe discharge with outside agencies.
Helping your family cope with trauma, death, or a life-threatening/serious diagnosis by orienting you with the hospital and our services, mobilizing your support system, and providing end-of-life assistance. In cases of child abuse or domestic violence, we can help coordinate safe discharge with outside agencies.
Helping your family secure emergency assistance, identify state and federal programs, and access nonprofit services as needed.
Coordinating services with community agencies, schools, and insurance companies, serving as board members of local
non-profit organizations, and impacting government policies and public awareness about pediatric health care issues. Our social workers also inform children and families of their health care rights and responsibilities.
Establishing and assisting onsite support groups for parents
and youth.
Our Social Work Team
Our social workers will do whatever it takes to improve the emotional well-being of your child and your family. We’re specially trained to assess the overall psychosocial functioning of patients and families — and we’re assigned to specific areas of medicine and specific children, so we’re familiar with what you’re going through.
Dale Perkel, LCSW
Director, Patient & Family Services
(302) 651-4238
dperkel@nemours.org
Dora Temple, LCSW
Organ Donor Advocate
(302) 651-4837
dtemple@nemours.org
Alethea (Lisa) Thomas
Secretary
(302) 651-4230 or (302) 651-4232
lthomas@nemours.org
Evenings and Weekends
Ray Hendricks, MSW
(302) 651-4558
rhendric@nemours.org
Robin Taylor, MSW
(302) 651-4558
rtaylor@nemours.org
By Department
Claudia Van Lenten, LCSW
(302) 651-4550
cvanlent@nemours.org
3CN
Laura Knapp
(302) 651-4550
laknapp@nemours.org
Elizabeth Wood, LCSW
(302) 651-4553
ewood@nemours.org
Valerie Aptt, LCSW
(302) 651-4503
vaptt@nemours.org
Jennifer Macaulay, MSW
(302) 651-4255
jmacaula@nemours.org
Jenifer Keller, MSW
(302) 651-5043
jkeller@nemours.org
Beverly Shreve, MSW
(302) 651-4823
bshreve@nemours.org
Kim York, LCSW
(302) 651-4558
kyork@nemours.org
Alexa Ujlaky, MSW
(302) 298-7075
aujlaky@nemours.org
Alexa Ujlaky, MSW
(302) 298-7075
aujlaky@nemours.org
Nancy Gaddis, LCSW
(302) 651-4563
ngaddis@nemours.org
Jennifer Fenstermacher, LCSW
(302) 651-4236
jfenster@nemours.org
Jennifer Macaulay, MSW
(302) 651-4255
jmacaula@nemours.org
Nancy Gaddis, LCSW
(302) 651-4563
ngaddis@nemours.org
Mike Goldsmith, LCSW
(302) 651-4556
mgoldsmi@nemours.org
Jessalyn Lewis, LSW
(302) 651-4233
jelewis@nemours.org
Laura Kline, MSW
(302) 651-4575
lkline@nemours.org
2A
Lee Lucas, LCSW
(302) 651-4235
llucas@nemours.org
3E
Jennifer Fenstermacher, LCSW
(302) 651-4236
jfenster@nemours.org
3F
Jennifer Fenstermacher, LCSW
(302) 651-4236
jfenster@nemours.org
Jessalyn Lewis, LSW
(302) 651-4233
jelewis@nemours.org
Laura Kline, MSW
(302) 651-4575
lkline@nemours.org
Laura Knapp
(302) 651-4550
laknapp@nemours.org
Diana Rash, MSW
(302) 651-4571
drash@nemours.org
Alexa Ujlaky, MSW
(302) 298-7075
aujlaky@nemours.org
Mike Goldsmith, LCSW
(302) 651-4556
mgoldsmi@nemours.org
Cortney Jones, MSW
(302) 651-4554
csjones@nemours.org
Nancy Gaddis, LCSW
(302) 651-4563
ngaddis@nemours.org
Laura Knapp
(302) 651-4550
laknapp@nemours.org
Elizabeth Wood, LCSW
(302) 651-4553
ewood@nemours.org
Alexa Ujlaky, MSW
(302) 298-7075
aujlaky@nemours.org
Hugh Gratz, LCSW
(302) 651-6448
jgratz@nemours.org
Dora Temple, LCSW
(302) 651-4837
dtemple@nemours.org
Johanna Ray, LCSW
(302) 651-4231
jray@nemours.org
Lee Lucas, LCSW
(302) 651-4235
llucas@nemours.org
Valerie Aptt, LCSW
(302) 651-4503
vaptt@nemours.org
Diana Rash, MSW
(302) 651-4571
drash@nemours.org
Beverly Shreve, MSW
(302) 651-4823
bshreve@nemours.org
Lee Lucas, LCSW
(302) 651-4235
llucas@nemours.org
Cory Nourie, MSS, MLSP
(302) 651-4812
cnourie@nemours.org
Lee Lucas, LCSW
(302) 651-4235
llucas@nemours.org
Mike Goldsmith, LCSW
(302) 651-4556
mgoldsmi@nemours.org
Coping With Complex Conditions
To learn more, check out these articles from Nemours’ KidsHealth.org (the most-visited website in the world devoted to children’s health):
Contact Us
Social Work
Department of Patient and Family Services
Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
Phone: (302) 651-4230 or (302) 651-4232
Fax: (302) 651-5066





