Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Compass to Care

CARE & BACK · About this organization

What you get

Help with travel for your child's cancer treatment. The amount isn't published. Ask.

How to start

Your social worker starts the request. Prepare the family application and survey. Gather treatment information to discuss with your medical team.

Good to know

  • Income ceilings differ for general and flying assistance.
  • Support is limited to you and one legal guardian.

The details, as published

B-ALL is in scope Waitlist Care team starts the request

CARE & BACK is one of Compass to Care’s pediatric-oncology travel programs. Current referrals are accepted to a waitlist because travel-assistance capacity has been reached; no reopening date is published.

Go to the official program ↗

What help you may get

Travel And Transportation

CARE & BACK — travel and transportation

Customized rides from home to the hospital and back for children living within 20 miles of the medical center, up to three round trips or six one-way rides weekly with additional medically necessary trips possible.

Amount decided by the program

Can cover

  • Rideshare transportation from home to hospital and back
  • Award amounts vary by travel program and are not summarized as one public cap.
  • An updated healthcare referral is required every three months.

Check the main eligibility rules

Diagnosis

B-ALL is in scope. A child under 18 in active B-ALL treatment fits the cancer scope if income and program-specific travel rules are met.

Age

Age 0 to age 17, measured at application.

  • The patient must be under 18.

Treatment status

No specific treatment status is published.

  • A provider must verify the patient or diagnosis.
  • Active treatment must be verified by the healthcare team.

Financial need is required.

  • A separate, higher table applies to flying assistance and should be stored as a future program-specific extension.
  • Published 2025 household income table; general support is described as based on 250% of the federal poverty level.
  • Use the current official table rather than recomputing values from an FPL percentage.

Where you live and where your child is treated

Where your family lives

You must live in: Continental United States.

Where your child is treated

No treatment-location restriction is published.

How to get started

Get ready to apply

Does a social worker or care team need to start it? Yes. Ask your child’s social worker or care team to begin the request.

Who can start: Healthcare Team, Parent Or Guardian

  1. A provider update is required every three months during support.
  2. A treating provider submits the referral first.
  3. Complete applications receive a published one-business-day response target, but service start is waitlisted.
  4. Have the healthcare team verify active treatment.
  5. Review the age, active-treatment, geography, and household-income rules.
  6. Submit the family portion of the referral.
  7. The parent completes the bilingual family application and pre-support survey.
  8. Wait for capacity and program placement.

Ways to apply or ask

Documents to prepare

  • Healthcare-team verification of diagnosis and active treatment
  • Household-income information
  • Travel support is provided through program-specific debit cards, rideshare, or travel arrangements.

Availability and timing

ProgramActive
ApplicationsWaitlist
Funding or spaceCapacity Reached
Application windowRolling
Last checkedAug 27, 2026
  • Capacity has been reached and no reopening date is published.
  • No decision timetable is guaranteed while the program is at capacity.

Limitations and things to confirm

  • Alaska and Hawaii are excluded.
  • Current capacity has been reached; referrals join a waitlist.
  • Income ceilings differ for general and flying assistance.
  • No reimbursement for past travel or unrelated household expenses.
  • Support is limited to the patient and one legal guardian.
  • The program currently has a waitlist because capacity has been reached.
  • The program excludes past expenses and nontravel costs.
  • Waitlist reopening date and award limits are unpublished.

Official sources

Program details were last verified Aug 27, 2026. Availability can change, so check the official program before applying.

Official program