| Summary: | This review aims to depict the profile of the childhood onset-SLE (c-SLE) and the related challenges that need to be managed in order to achieve an uneventful programmed transition from the family-oriented Pediatric Rheumatology Outpatient Clinic to the adult patient-focused one. Transition is a dynamic, continuous and interactive process where a triad is involved: the medical staff, the pediatric patient and the family. Their mutual collaboration and interaction start at the announcement of the diagnosis and is continuously supported by the ongoing multi-dimensional patient’s and family’s education. A prerequisite of a successful transition is the stepwise consciousness of c-SLE per se as well as the development of essential skills for the management of medical, psychosocial and educational/professional consequences derived during the course of the disease. The ideal time point of the final phase of transition (moving to adults’ care) requires disease remission and the patient’s confirmed dexterity for life self-management and coping with his/her difficult and unpredictable chronic disease.
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