Grieving

Champion the cause of grieving children

Children grieve differently than adults. And depending on the age of the child, their perceptions of death are very different.

Kids grieve in small pieces at a time. They can't process it all at once. They approach it, feel it, take it in and then go do something totally different. They'll come back again for another dose of grieving when they're ready.

Following the death of a loved one, kids will have a lot of questions. Being available to hear their questions is more important than having the answers.

Did you know?

• Long-term denial of death or avoidance of grief is unhealthy for children and may resurface later with more severe problems. (NMHA, 2006)
• One child in 20 will have a parent die before he or she graduates from high school. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990)
• One out of every 750 youth of high school age dies each year. (The Caring Place program launches to assist grieving children and their families, Highmark, Aug. 1, 2003)
• Many children are more at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties two years after the death of a parent then they were one year after the death. (Harvard's Child Bereavement Study)
• Statistics shows that one child in every seven will experience the death of an immediate family member-mother, father, brother, sister, grandparent by the age of 10. (The Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas, 2005)
• It is estimated that 73,000 children die every year in the United States.  Of those children, 83 percent have surviving siblings. (Annie's Hope the Bereavement Center for Kids, 2005)
• Only 11 percent of U.S. public schools offered a course or unit on death education and only 17 percent had grief support programs. (Wass, Miller and Thornton, 1990)

Highmark Healthy High 5 can help kids with the loss of a loved one by providing grants and supporting programs that support education and activities for grieving kids.

Highmark Caring Place
The Highmark Caring Place, a Center for Grieving Children, Adolescents and their Families, is dedicated to grieving children and families, working to ensure that they find hope.

The first Highmark Caring Place facility was established in Pittsburgh in 1997. Now with sites in Erie (2001) and just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (2003), the Highmark Caring Place has served more than 10,000 family members and community members.

Have a greater hand in raising happier, healthier kids.