Supporting a child when someone dies

Children can tell when adults are upset, so it’s best to be honest with them about what’s happened as soon as you can. The charity Marie Curie provides advice for adults who are supporting a grieving child. 

Organisations who can help

Grief Encounter

Grief Encounter supports bereaved children and their families to help alleviate The pain caused by the death of someone close. Their services are free, funded through donations. h

Winston’s Wish

Winston’s Wish is the leading childhood bereavement charity in the UK. They understand that bereaved children need support to make sense of death and rebuild their lives. They offer the widest range of practical support and guidance to bereaved children, their families, professionals and anyone concerned about a bereaved child. The charity aims to help children rebuild their lives.

Sue Ryder

Sue Ryder provides incredible hospice and neurological care for people facing a frightening, life-changing diagnosis. It’s not just expert medical care we provide. It’s the emotional support and practical things we take care of too. We do whatever we can to be a safety net for our patients and their loved ones at the most difficult time of their lives. We provide incredible hospice and neurological care for people facing a frightening, life-changing diagnosis.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep - Untimely Death of an Infant

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep is a USA non profit organisation that sends photographers to meet emotional parents and terminally ill babies. The photography is free They believe images serve as an important step in the family's healing process by honouring the child's legacy. The organisation trains, educates and organises for professional photographers to provide what they describe as 'beautiful heirloom portraits' to families facing the untimely death of an infant. 

Advice Leaflets

	Dying Matters is a coalition of 32,000 members across England and Wales which aims to help people talk more openly about dying, death and bereavement, and to make plans for the end of life. Their leaflet provides information to help you help children understand death.
	Macmillan Cancer provides a useful guide on how to talk to children and teenagers when an adult has cancer.
	Child Bereavement UK has a useful information sheet for explaining death to children.
	Hospice.Net provides some general information which may be helpful—information which may be adapted to meet individual needs.
	Marie Curie's guide to End of Life for people in their final stages of life and their carers.