Children's Grief Resources

Supporting Grieving Families

Resources from Care Dimensions

On our blog: Click here to read posts written by our Children's Program team.

We have put together a number of interactive videos which can help kids who are dealing with grief and loss, or feeling emotions like stress and sadness. The videos include read-alongs, breathing exercises and other activities that can be done at home. Watch the videos here.

Timing is Everything

Learn how children dealing with grief can be supported both at home and while they are at school.

Watch Now

 

Resources for Children

• National Alliance of Grieving Children - Offering free webinars (live and recorded) geared toward professionals and caregivers. Also offering workbook with info below: 
  • The NAGC would like to encourage everyone to prioritize self-care. For many of us, there is grief in the loss of normalcy, and we encourage you to hold space for that. We want you to know you are not alone in the experience, the challenges it may be creating and the feelings that may be surfacing. In response to this, the NAGC (with the support of Alex Cares for Grieving Youth®) has released the booklet "Coping with Change and Loss" to be shared freely with families. Click here to download this free resource.
• Coalition to Support Grieving Children/National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement
  • Offering a free downloadable document titled: Supporting Grieving Students During a Pandemic – A guide to using the Coalition to Support Grieving Students materials.
  • Offering 15-25 minute video presentations for educators, parents/caregivers, and paediatric healthcare providers about talking to and supporting children during a pandemic.
• The Dougy Center – The National Center for Grieving Children and Families - Offers recent articles about supporting children when a family member is dying in a hospital/care facility, and supporting grieving children and teens during COVID19.
• The Association for Child Life Professionals - Offers a list of resources for families and professionals around supporting children during COVID19.
• My Hero is You - how kids can fight COVID-19! - A free book – aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years old – is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, a unique collaboration of United Nations agencies, national and international nongovernmental organizations and international agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.

Local Resources

• The Children's Room - Offers peer support groups and creates safe, supportivie comunities so that no child, teen or family has to grieve alone.
• On Belay - Builds community among youth who have or have had a family member with cancer using adventure  based programs that encourage participants to uncover their inner resilience.
• empowerHER - A nonprofit organization for young girls who have experienced the early loss of their mothers.

Online Resources

• SLAP'D - Social media for teens who have lost a parent to find hope and connection through shared experiences.

Resources for the Professionals

Online Resources

• Coalition to Support Grieving Students - A practitioner-oriented website providing practical, free information, handouts and reference materials.

Resources for Adults Helping Children Grieve

Local Resources

• The Commission on the Status of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren - an interactive website that is devoted to fostering education, networking, research, programs and support to grandparents and all relatives raising grandchildren.  

Online Resources

• Parenting - offers a wide array of resources for parents.
• Parmenter Foundation - provides hope and support for our community members who are grieving or in need of compassionate end-of-life care.
• Courageous Parents Network - a destination created by families, for families, to support, guide and strengthen them as they care for very sick children.
• What's Your Grief? - a mission to promote grief education, exploration, and expression in both practical and creative ways.
• National Alliance for Children's Grief - a mission to raise awareness about the needs of children and teens grieving a death and provide education and resources to anyone who wants to support them.
• GrievingChildren.net - helps children with grief and trauma.
• Widowed Parent - is committed to supporting widowed mothers and fathers with children in the home.

Suggested Reading List: For Adults Helping Children Grieve

• Childs-Gowell, Elaine, Good Grief Rituals: Tools for Healing
• Coles, Robert, The Spiritual Life of Children
• Doka, Kenneth J., Children Mourning: Mourning Children
• Fitzgerald, Helen, The Grieving Child: A Parent's Guide
• Fox, S., Helping Groups of Children When a Friend Dies
• Fry, Virginia Lynn, Part of Me Died, Too: Stories of Creative Survival Among Bereaved Children and Teeneagers
• Furman, Erma, A Child's Parent Dies
• Goldman, Linda, Life and Loss: A Guide to Helping Grieiving Children
• Gordon, Audrey and Klass, D., They Need to Know: How to Teach Children About Death
• Grollman, Earl A., Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child
• Grollman, Earl A., Bereaved Children and Teens
• Huntley, Theresa, Helping Children Grieve: When Someone They Love Dies
• Jarratt, Claudia Jewett, Helping Children Cope with Separation and Loss
• Krementz, Jill, How It Feels When a Parent Dies
• Kroen, William C., Helping Children Cope with the Loss of a Loved One: A Guide for Grownups
• Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth, On Children and Death
• LeShan, Eda, Learning to Say Goodbye: When a Child's Parent Dies
• Lord, Janice Harris, No Time for Goodbyes: Coping with Sorrow, Anger and Injustice after a Tragic Death
• Lord, Janice Harris, Beyond Sympathy: How to Help Another Through Injury, Illness or Loss
• Menten, Ted, Gentle Closings: How to Say Goodbye to Someone You Love
• Schaefer, D. & Lyons, C., How Do We Tell the Children? Helping Children Understand and Cope When Someone Dies
• Stein, Sara Bonnett, About Dying: An Open Family Book for Parents and Children Together
• Trozzi, Maria, Talking with Children About Loss: Words, Strategieis and Wisdom to Help Children Cope with Death, Divorce and other Difficult Times
• Wolfelt, A., Helping Children Cope with Grief
• Worden, J. William, Children and Grief: When a Parent Dies
• Ziegler, Robert G., Homemade Books to Help Kids Cope