Resources for Children & Siblings

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Grief and loss affects children of all ages.  Even babies can  sense a change in emotion and routine in their environment.  Supporting children when families experience a loss is important. We want to offer some resources to help you in this process.  Please contact us if you have any questions.

H.E.A.R.T.strings Grief Coloring Book
Our office is now offering interactive sibling books to help younger children acknowledge their feelings after loss.  They are available by request for parents. The book we offer is a coloring book formatted especially for children who have experienced the loss of  a sibling through pregnancy loss or neonatal death.  Please contact us to request one.  There is no fee.

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Online Resources

• Children’s Bereavement Center - Support Groups in Florida
• Children & Grief - Brochure offered by SHARE National
• The Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families - Provides support for grieving children, teens, young adults, and their families.
• National Alliance for Grieving Children - Promotes awareness of the needs of children and teens grieving a death and provides education and resources.

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Local Support Groups for Children and Siblings

• Kate's Club - A non-profit organization that empowers children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling.
• The Link Counseling Center - Nonprofit community counseling center since 1971 that provides quality, affordable, confidential counseling, psychotherapy, and support groups to all ages.  The House Next Door is their program for children.  Local groups available, (770) 730-5858

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Reading Recommendations

• Aarvy Aardvark Finds Hope (O’Toole): A story for people of all ages about loving and losing, friendship and hope
• All Shining in the Spring:  The Story of a Baby Who Died (Parkinson): True story of a stillbirth, written for small children.
• American Academy for Child & Adolescents Psychiatry - Facts for Families: Grief and Children
• Children Grieve, Too:  A book for Families Who Have Experienced a Death (Johnson/Johnson):  Give needed information to those who work with grieving children. Basic, ready-friendly and talks about what you really need to know and how children respond to grief from infancy to teen.
• Dancing on the Moon (Roper): About a little girl whose baby brother dies of SIDS
• Explaining Death to Children (Grollman) Helps adults with explaining death to children and also helpful for adults who are exploring their own views and thoughts about death
• The Fall of Freddie the Leaf (Buscaglia) As Freddie experiences the changing seasons along with his companion leaves, he learns that death is part of life
• Fingernail Mood, Mama’s Journal (Lager) This book is out-of-print, but we have one copy in our library.
• Grief Watch - Offers a variety of children & teen grief books
• I Know I Made it Happen (Centering Corp) We look at feelings when there’s a family fight, a divorce, illness, injury and death. Gives kids support and understanding during crises. It’s nice to know, though, that my wishes, and my thoughts, and my words, don’t make bad things happen.
• Life & Loss: A Guide to Help Grieving Children (Goldman)  Stories, crafts, and feelings guide children and parents
• No New Baby (Centering Corp) This storybook talks about the different feelings children have and answers some of the most asked questions.
• Sad Isn't Bad: A Good-Grief Guidebook for Kids Dealing With Loss (Mundy)  This guide tells children what they need to know after a loss--that the world is still safe; life is good; and hurting hearts do mend. Written by a school counselor, this book helps comfort children facing of the worst and hardest kind of reality.
• Sibling Grief (Martinez, Burns, Ilse)  Valuable coping tips for both parents and children
• Someone Came Before You (Schwiebert)  For children when the baby they are waiting for dies AND for the child who comes after the one who died
• Something Happened (Blanford) This book is designed especially for children between the ages of two and six whose families have experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death.
• Talking About Death - A Dialogue Between Parent and Child (Grollman)  A  guide for adults and children to read together, featuring a readalong story, answers to questions children ask about death, and a comprehensive list of resources and organizations that can help
• Tear Soup (Schwiebert & DeKlyen) Recognizes and reinforces the fact that every member of the family from the youngest to the oldest will grieve in their own way (also available on DVD)
• Thumpy’s Story (Dodge) This story provides an opportunity for children and adults to express their emotions and learn about life, death, grief and love. (also available in Spanish)
• Waterbugs and Dragonflies: Explaining Death to Children (Stickney): Uses the allegory of metamorphosis to assist children in understanding death.
• What Complicates Grief for Children: A Case Study - Healing Magazine, 2015
• When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death (Brown) Addresses children's fears and curiosity head-on, and in a largely secular fashion, by answering some very basic questions: "Why does someone die?" "What does dead mean?" "What comes after death?"
• Where’s Jess? (Johnson) To help very young children cope with infant sibling loss