Children grieve in a different way from adults. Grief may affect their behaviour, the way in which they take in information, and their need for support. This will depend on the child or teenager, their age, and their emotional maturity. It will also depend on who has died, how they died, and the child’s relationship with them.

There are many resources that can help parents, teachers, carers and families to support children and adolescents in their grief. The following resources are from Australia and overseas.

Resources

The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement has information on supporting grieving children and on supporting grieving adolescents.

The Spring 2012 edition of the Rosemary Branch focuses on children and grief.

The Cancer Council of Australia has a website with information on supporting bereaved children.

The Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network at the Australian National University have community information and resources that can help.

The National Cancer Institute in America has information on children and grief including details on developmental stages and understanding at different ages.

There is also information for children, available from the Kids Health website for parents on death and grief and for kids on When somebody dies.

Sometimes specific information may be required, and the following sites may be helpful:

• The NYU Child Study Centre has information about children attending funerals and memorial services.
• Information for teenagers about loss and grief is available on the Reach Out website.
• Palliative Care Australia has a resource called Journeys – palliative care for children and teenagers which has sections on 10 rights for grieving children, notes for grieving children and teenagers, and help for the holidays. There is also information from the Journeys kit for teachers on ‘dealing with grieving children in your class’.
• The Children, Youth and Women's Health Service in SA has produced a page Aboriginal kids grieve too to support Indigenous families.
• The compassionate friend’s website (Victoria) has information brochures for families in relation to the loss of a child including one entitled When a brother or sister dies. This group also has created a website Brothers and Sisters.

Related CareSearch pages

Talking with children
Loss of a child
Grief and loss resources

Last updated 10 January 2013