Resources for Caregivers and Children when a Loved One has Died

Telling a child someone important to them has died can be a painful and challenging experience. As a caregiver, we understand this is a task you never want to do and that it can be more difficult to plan for in the middle of your own grief. At UNC Hospitals, we provide resources to help you with those difficult conversations and offer support throughout the grieving process.

Internal Resources

At UNC Hospitals, the Child Life and Recreational Therapy department offers grief support for children who may soon experience the loss of their brother or sister and provides bereavement support after the loss. Support is tailored to meet the unique needs of each family and includes services such as one-on-one caregiver consultations, remembrance events, virtual sibling support groups and special community-based events.

Supportive resources are also available for children of adult patients who are admitted for a critical injury, illness or end-of-life care. To get connected, ask your care team for a referral or send an email to uncchildrenssiblings@unchealth.unc.edu.

External Guides

The National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG) offers several guides that can be helpful when you’re preparing to have this difficult conversation.

Age-Specific Guides

Children can have different responses to grief depending on their age. These guides can help prepare you for what to expect when talking with children of different ages — how they might respond, what they might or might not understand, and how you can guide the conversation.

Trauma-Related Resources

We recommend these resources for working through the grieving process with children of different ages.

Additional Grief and Bereavement Resources

Local Counseling and Support Groups

Transitions Kids
Transitions Kids offers hospice and grief support for children and families in Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties.

Association for Home and Hospice Care of NC
Use this search engine to find local hospice agencies that offer grief support. It’s a good idea to call in advance to make sure a bereavement counselor with experience caring for grieving children is available and can gather information for the family.

The Compassionate Friends
The Compassionate Friends offers several in-person and online support groups for parents, siblings and grandparents of a deceased child. You can search for a local chapter and filter for a Facebook group specific to your needs.

KinderMourn
KinderMourn offers in-person counseling and support groups for grieving parents and children in Charlotte.

Kids Path
Kids Path, part of AuthoraCare Collective, provides individual grief counseling for adults and children in the Burlington and Greensboro areas. Licensed clinicians trained in supporting children offer in-person and online counseling, which is available via Zoom.

Online Support Groups

Comfort Zone Camp
Comfort Zone Camp offers support groups for children every few months for four consecutive weeks, with groups for adult caregivers also available. They also offer occasional camps and young adult retreats at locations in Virginia.

Eluna Network
The Eluna Network offers in-person and online camps throughout the United States. It gives scholarship opportunities and hosts an extensive resource library.

Experience Camps
Experience Camps offers many in-person and online camps for children who are grieving. Family weekends and adult camps are also available.

Kate’s Club
Kate’s Club and Kate’s Hub are online communities for people grieving and those who support them — children, teens, young adults, parents and caregivers, volunteers, and school and support professionals.

The WARM Place
The WARM (What About Remembering Me) Place offers online support for grieving children (K-12), along with resources and articles.

Highmark Caring Place
The Highmark Caring Place offers online grief support groups with grief education as well as mindfulness and meditation activities for children and young adults.

Hope Unshakeable
Hope Family Care offers Hope Unshakeable Grief Care weekly online grief support groups for parents, grandparents, siblings and others experiencing grief.

Bereaved Parents of the USA
Find local chapters of Bereaved Parents of the USA, which provides resources and support groups for parents, siblings and grandparents.

Additional Resources for Adults and Caregivers of Grieving Children

National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG)
Provides information about support for siblings, including resource guides and activities.

Courageous Parents Network
Offers a library of videos, toolkits, guided pathways, webinars and podcasts for parents and caregivers of children with complex and life-limiting medical conditions. Resources are offered in several languages, including Spanish, French and Arabic.

Our House Grief Support Center
Offers a variety of resources and support, plus special topics such as cooking, visual arts, music and more.

Dougy Center
Provides grief and serious illness resources and toolkits in English and Spanish for children, teens, young adults, parents/caregivers and professionals.

What’s Your Grief
Hosts blog posts, articles, podcasts and resources created and managed by licensed counselors who share their own grief experiences. Grief sharing opportunities and online community memberships are also available.

KidsHealth
Information on helping children deal with the death of a loved one.

LauraLynn
From Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, a resource for grieving parents to acknowledge and validate their grief experience.