ATLANTA (March 4, 2026) — As trauma-informed care becomes a guiding principle across healthcare, pediatric feeding disorder treatment is undergoing a long-overdue ethical reexamination. In response, Feeding Matters, in collaboration with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, has launched the Center for Feeding Ethics, a first-of-its-kind national initiative dedicated to ethical exploration and standards in feeding disorders and differences such as pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) care.

The Center for Feeding Ethics was born from the growing calls within the field to acknowledge historical harms and integrate lived experience into research, training, and care models. Most recently, national consensus efforts and patient- and family-centered research groups have emphasized the need for recognizing trauma history and embedding these lessons into future best practices.

The Multidisciplinary Feeding Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is one of the few programs in the country to offer empirically supported treatment for children 8 months to 21 years old who have PFD and/or ARFID. Feeding Matters is the global system change leader for advancing the field of feeding disorders. Together, they are well positioned to bring the clinical, lived experience, and system change expertise to usher in a new era of feeding support for children and families.

“Healthcare is evolving to recognize that how we treat matters just as much as what we treat,” said William Sharp, Ph.D., director of Children’s Multidisciplinary Feeding Program. “As feeding disorder research expands, ethical responsibility must expand with it. The Center for Feeding Ethics exists to help children receive care that is safe, effective and compassionate.”

The need for ethical guidance is urgent.
Up to 1 in 23 children under age 5 have a diagnosis of PFD and up to 1 in 6 individuals are affected by ARFID, meaning there is at least 1 child in every classroom with a feeding disorder.

Despite this prevalence:

• There is no specialized, standardized education pathway for providers who serve PFD or ARFID.
• Many providers across the country report feeling unprepared and ill-equipped to assess and manage the needs of these children and families.
• In many regions, families seeking specialized feeding treatment, including treatment at intensive multidisciplinary feeding programs, often have to wait 12 months or longer for care.
• No unified, cross-disciplinary ethical guidelines currently exist for PFD and ARFID assessment and treatment.

The Center was formally introduced during the International Pediatric Feeding Disorder Conference last week, where clinicians, researchers, and families gathered to address the future of feeding care.

The Center will serve as a national home for:

• Inquiry into ethical challenges in feeding care
• Consensus-building across disciplines and the feeding and eating disorder fields
• Systematic evaluation of benefits and limitations of care pathways
• Development of ethical treatment guidelines
• Elevation of patient and family voice, lived experience, and expertise
• Promoting compassionate, inclusive language

“The science is evolving, and so must our standards,” said Jaclyn Pederson, Feeding Matters CEO. “Acknowledging the past and working together allows us to build a more ethical future for children and families.”

The Center will actively listen to clinicians and lived experience experts in 2026 to begin developing foundational ethical principles and publish its findings. Additional working groups and educational resources will follow.

As trauma-informed models gain momentum across pediatric and mental health care, the Center for Feeding Ethics positions feeding disorders and differences as the next frontier in ethical, patient and family-centered healthcare.