When a child of any age dies

	A Heart That Works Rob Delaney In this devastating, beautiful and deeply moving memoir of the loss of his son, Rob Delaney explores what life really means, and why it matters. This is the story of what happens when you lose a child, and everything you discover about life in the process. Why does he feel compelled to talk about it, to write about it, to disseminate information designed to make people feel something like what he felt? What his wife feels? What his other sons feel? Done properly or well, it will hurt them. Why does he want to hurt people? Because, despite the death of his son, Rob still loves people. For that reason, he wants them to understand. Available from Amazon
	Don't Let Them Tell You How to Grieve: Lines to let you know you are not alone Gina Claye Poems written by a mother who experienced the sudden deaths of her 19-year-old daughter by suicide and her 32-year-old son from encephalitis. Available from Amazon
	GriefWorks app Julia Samuel Drawing on Child Bereavement UK’s Founder Patron Julia Samuel’s 30 years of experience as a leading grief therapist, the GriefWorks app was designed to effectively address the full range of emotions surrounding grief. The app pairs Julia’s advice with actionable practices and exercises, gently nudging you to record and examine your own thoughts and feelings. The app also offers more than 30 interactive tools including breathing visualisation exercises, guided meditations, daily gratitude check-ins, prompted evening reflections, and more. Available on Apple Store and Google Play Store.£49.99 for 3 months. Get a 10% discount when using this link.
	How to Get to Grips with Grief: 40 Ways to Manage the Unmanageable James Withey This book is for anyone who has lost someone. It may have been recently, or it may have been years ago, but still it stings like it was yesterday. In his twenty years supporting people with their own grief, as a counsellor and social care worker, he has helped others work through their despair and reconcile the injustice of grief. With his trademark humour and warmth, he provides forty ways to help you live with and manage your grief no matter what stage you're at. It provides comfort for when it all gets too much, ideas for when you feel at a loss for what to do and more than a laugh or two to balance out the sadness. Available from Amazon
	Losing Liam Sue Bracknell Poems written following the author's son’s suicide in 2003, helping her to connect with him and to grieve. Buy from Child Bereavement UK
	When Words are not Enough: Creative Responses to Grief Jane Harris Everyone grieves for someone at some point in their lives. But how do we deal with the silence that often surrounds grief? How do we find ways to express painful feelings when words are not enough? In this deeply personal and beautiful reflection on grief Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds draw on their own experience of loss, and how the death of their son Josh has led to a creative response that is more than word bound. Available from Amazon
	You Are Not Alone Cariad Lloyd In You Are Not Alone, Cariad shares all that she has learned from presenting her podcast, Griefcast. She reflects on her own grief, the grief of others, and the psychology and science behind how our society deals with death and loss. Funeral thoughts, therapy, coping with anniversaries, bad friends, good friends, birthdays, weddings, missing them, not missing them - this is grief in all its sad, surprising, awkward, tender and sometimes funny forms. You Are Not Alone is a road map for all of us: for anybody who has ever felt lost in grief, who would like to help someone they know through theirs, or who just wants to understand life a little better. Available on Amazon

Latest

"We did the things that Fraser would have wanted us to do."

Caroline’s son and only child Fraser died aged 18 from a brain tumour in 2022. Caroline remembers a special Christmas photo of Fraser and shares how she and her husband Phil marked Christmas after he died.
Caroline

Caroline was supported by Child Bereavement UK in Glasgow after her son and only child Fraser died, aged 18, from a brain tumour in 2022.
Child Bereavement UK’s animation 'The Invisible Suitcase’ wins at Big Syn International Film Festival

Child Bereavement UK’s animation ‘The Invisible Suitcase’ was the joint winner in the Mental Health Charity film category at the 2023 Big Syn International Film Festival, London.
Christmas Concert Volunteer | London

4 December 2023 | 4-5 hours

Telling a child that someone has died

It is important to tell a child of any age when someone important in their lives has died, and ideally this is done by someone who is closest to them.
Supporting bereaved children and young people

Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they show it in different ways. Find out how you can help them and more about child grieving.
Grieving for a child of any age

The agony of losing a child of any age is unparalleled. There is no age or point in time that makes it any easier. No parent expects to face the death of their child and no grandparent expects to lose their grandchild.
Children's understanding of death at different ages

Guidance on children's understanding of death at different ages and stages of development.
When a grandparent dies

The death of a grandparent is often a child or young person’s first encounter with the death of someone important. Parents have a great deal to manage when their own parent or carer dies. There is the grief associated with their own loss, but also the reactions and responses of their children to the death of a grandparent.
Child Bereavement UK training

Child Bereavement UK designs and delivers training for professionals in health and social care, education, the emergency services and the voluntary and corporate sectors, equipping them to provide the best possible care to bereaved families.
Children's understanding of death at different ages

Babies and young children have no understanding of the concept of death yet, long before they are able to talk, babies are likely to react to upset and changes in their environment brought about by the absence of a significant person.
Contact us

Contact details for our Helpline, departments and services.
When your baby dies

When a baby lives only a short time or dies before birth due to miscarriage, stillbirth or a painful decision to end the pregnancy, people may assume that the loss is not important. This is simply not the case.
UK death & bereavement statistics

A parent of children under 18 dies every 22 minutes in the UK; around 23,600 a year. This equates to around 111 children being bereaved of a parent every day.