The Super Parents: Caring for Children with Special Needs is exhibit at Menlo Park Library

The Super Parents: Caring for Children with Special Needs is a visiting exhibition at the Menlo Park Library (800 Alma St.) that explores what it takes to care for a child with a special need.

One in five American children has a special health care need: a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition that requires more than routine health care.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice shadowed 10 families living throughout California, from rural farms to large urban centers to the suburbs surrounding Silicon Valley, who provide care every day and night for their children with special needs.

All of these parents have much in common. They must navigate a complex and fragmented system of care, from the crushing piles of paperwork, to financial stress, to long drives for appointments booked months in advance. But, more than anything, the most common denominator among these parents is the deepest, most beautiful sense of all-giving love for their children.

The Super Parents: Caring for Children with Special Needs was originated by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health; Exhibit Envoy developed and travels the exhibition.