Healing Children's Grief

In this unique book, Grace Christ relates the powerfully moving stories of 88 families and their 157 children (ages 3 to 17) who participated in a parent-guidance intervention through the terminal illness and death of one of the parents from cancer. The majority of the children successfully reconstituted their lives during the subsequent 8-14 months. Although recent studies of bereaved children have yielded important findings, they have not provided knowledge of how children's development affects their responses either before the death, through the dying experience, or in the later period in which families try to adapt to the new circumstances. Using qualitative analytic methods, The Legacy identifies five developmentally derived age groups that clarify important differences in children's grief and mourning processes, in their understanding of events, their interactions with families, and their varying needs for help and support. The author gives numerous examples of the ways parents and extended family interacted with the children, and also the ways that professionals, friends, and many others helped families deal with this tragedy.