Background: Palliative care should be provided regardless of age or diagnosis and is based on principles such as autonomy, justice, and relieving care. Children are particularly vulnerable and require developmentally appropriate care in which parents must be considered. Nurses have an important mission in pediatric palliative care, which demands both medical knowledge and emotional competence.

Aim: To synthesize and summarize qualitative studies that have explored nurses’ experiences of caring for families with children in palliative care.

Method: A qualitative literature review was conducted, following Polit and Beck’s nine-step model. Searchers were performed in databases such as CINAHL and PubMed, and ten scientific articles were selected. The articles were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis to identify and analyze patterns in the data.

Results: Two main themes were identified: providing safety for families with children in palliative care and creating a professional encounter with families in pediatric palliative care. Four subthemes were identified: to offer professional care, to build trusting relationships, to offer a safe dying process, and to experience challenges with the ability to recover.

Conclusion: Caring for children in palliative care is emotionally demanding for nurses and requires safety, trust and adapted communication. To support nurses’ work in pediatric palliative care, education, supervision, emotional support, and a sustainable healthcare organization are needed.