The purpose of this manuscript is to provide an overview of research on functional electrical stimulation (FES) for persons with spinal cord injuries (SCI) with particular emphasis on advancements made with children and adolescents. Results of research on FES in pediatrics show that for children and adolescents with C5 and C6 level SCI, FES improves hand function, increases independence and ease of task completion in activities of daily living (ADL), is preferred over alternative methods and facilitates social interchange. For young persons with high tetraplegia, FES systems must activate multiple joints (shoulder, elbow, hand) creating challenges related to control sources, portability, and ease of use. Laboratory-based evaluation showed that FES and an orthosis enabled performance of hand-to-mouth activities. Further development and laboratory-based testing is needed before providing children with high level cervical injuries FES systems for home and school use. With FES, children and adolescents with complete thoracic level injuries have achieved stance, level ambulation, and upright mobility such as side-stepping and stair ascent and descent. Comparison data between FES and knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFO) suggest that FES is equally effective, and in some instances superior to, mobility function provided by KAFO. Current FES technology is best suited to provide ambulatory ability for children with incomplete SCI and stance and upright mobility for children with complete thoracic injuries. Totally implanted FES systems are currently being used with adults and skeletally mature adolescents, and through our studies on the effect of growth on implant technology, FES implant systems for upper and lower extremity applications with children will be realized in the very near future.