The short answer
NCI says most progress toward curing childhood cancers has come through clinical trials. Parents or guardians give consent, and your team can explain how a child's own agreement is handled.
NCI says the opportunity to join a trial is offered to many children with cancer.
NCI says most progress in curing childhood cancers has come through clinical trials.
Parents or guardians give informed consent for a child. Ask your team how your child's own agreement, called assent, is handled.
Every trial is reviewed by an institutional review board before it starts.
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The whole article, with every detail and caution.
The simple version
This page is for parents whose child has been offered, or might join, a cancer clinical trial. NCI says clinical trials for children and adolescents are generally designed to compare potentially better therapy with therapy that is currently accepted as standard.
Why trials matter for children
NCI says most of the progress in curing childhood cancers has come through clinical trials. Children's cancer centers typically have trials available, and NCI says the opportunity to take part is offered to many patients.
How trials are reviewed
NCI says institutional review boards, or IRBs, review trial plans before a trial can enroll patients. They check that the trial is well designed, legal, and ethical. A data and safety monitoring board is an independent group of experts. It can stop a trial early if safety issues come up.
For a child, a parent or legal guardian gives informed consent. Assent means a child's own agreement to take part. Ask your child's team how assent is handled for your child's age.
The Children's Oncology Group
NCI says more than 90% of children and teens diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States are cared for at a children's cancer center affiliated with the NCI-supported Children's Oncology Group, known as COG. NCI says about 4,000 children each year enroll in COG-sponsored trials. Taking part is voluntary.
What this means for your family
Ask your child's oncologist to explain exactly what a specific trial would mean for your child's treatment plan and day-to-day life.
Cost and logistics for families
Ask, in writing if possible, what the trial covers and what your insurance covers. A social worker or research coordinator may be able to walk you through what to expect financially, before you decide.
It is always your choice
NCI says you have the right to decide to take part in a study and to leave at any time. You can ask questions throughout. Your child's team can talk through the options with you.
What to ask your child's team
- Is a clinical trial open and right for my child's specific cancer?
- How does the trial's plan compare with standard treatment outside the trial?
- How will my child's own assent be handled, given their age?
- What safety monitoring is built into this specific trial?
Sources
Common questions
Why are so many children treated on trials?
NCI says clinical trials for children and adolescents are generally designed to compare potentially better therapy with therapy that is currently accepted as standard. NCI also says most of the progress in curing childhood cancers has come through clinical trials.
Who gives permission?
A parent or legal guardian gives informed consent for a child. Assent means a child's own agreement to take part. Ask your child's team how assent is handled for your child's age.
Are children's trials safe?
NCI says institutional review boards review trial plans before a trial can enroll patients. They check that the trial is well designed, legal, and ethical. An independent data and safety monitoring board can stop a trial early if safety issues come up. Ask your child's team how safety is checked in a specific trial.
How do we find a pediatric trial?
Your child's oncology team, often at a children's cancer center, can identify trials your child may qualify for and explain the options.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Written by: Cancer ExplainedSources last checked: 2026-07-14 what this meansLast updated: 2026-10-16Next planned review: 2027-01-14
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How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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