It’s estimated that 46,300 children under the age of 18 are bereaved of a parent every year. This, and other childhood bereavement statistics, are estimates based on mortality data combined with the number of adults currently living with dependent children.
The honest truth is that we simply don’t know how many young people are bereaved in the UK right now.
The very real fear is that the scale of youth bereavement is far bigger than the estimates suggest.
If we don’t know how many children and young people are bereaved, we fail to reach and provide the support they need to rebuild their life around grief.
Winston’s Wish is calling for details of dependents to be captured when a death is registered in the UK.
Such information would provide us with an accurate and conclusive view of the scale of young person’s bereavement and enable the child and youth bereavement sector to:
- Form a picture of need and demand for youth bereavement services locally, regionally and nationally
- Focus plans and resources to meet the greatest need
- Discover where needs are and aren’t being met
- Strengthen the case for funding and support in an area that often struggles to be heard
- Validate the experiences of children and young people, acknowledging that their grief matters too and giving them access to the tools they need to rebuild their live.
Why now?
Findings from Imperial College London indicate an additional 16,000 children became orphaned due to the death of one or both parents as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only are there more bereaved young people, but the restrictions and disruptions to ‘normal’ bereavement practices such as not being able to see or say goodbye to loved ones before a death, restrictions on funerals and lack of in-person contact are expected to be responsible for an increase in complex, complicated and unresolved grief.
The 2022 UK Commission on Bereavement report found that a significant barrier to accessing bereavement support in the UK was a “lack of data on support need and service provision, locally and nationally” and to ensure access to good and appropriate support improvements should be made in “research, data collection and evaluation.”
Without support, unresolved grief in young people can lead to an increased risk of youth offending, family breakdown, relationship issues, failure in education and employment and long term mental health conditions. According to Young Minds, one in six children aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021, a huge increase from one in nine in 2017.
But not every young bereaved person has to follow this path.
If we know where and how to reach the bereaved children, young people and adults supporting them in the UK, the greater the chance and opportunity for them to engage with services that can help them to rebuild their lives after grief.
Because no child or young person should ever have to grieve alone.
How you can help
Whilst we do the work to build a more accurate picture of the scale of youth bereavement, you can do your bit to help us reach the young people we’re currently missing. You can:
1. Sign our petition
With support from Child Bereavement UK and The Childhood Bereavement Network, we have launched a petition to government to uncover the true scale of childhood bereavement. This could be achieved with a simple administrative change, such as by updating the UK death certificate to record if the deceased has dependents.
If we know how many and where the bereaved children of the UK are, the services that exist to support them can better plan, reach out and ensure no child grieves alone.
Please sign and endorse our petition to uncover the true scale of childhood bereavement.
Once signed, please share the petition with your friends, colleagues and contacts and encourage them to do the same. We’ve even created a ‘I’ve signed’ badge you can post on your social media.
Below are some images you can share on social media. Just click on the one you would like to share to open it up, right click and save to your device:
How you can help
Whilst we do the work to build a more accurate picture of the scale of youth bereavement, you can do your bit to help us reach the young people we’re currently missing. You can:
2. Share
Share a post on your social media pages. Some young people are grieving in silence, a post on your social media channel could give them the confidence to reach out for support.
Copy and paste the paragraph below and download a social media graphic (choose the colour that fits in with your feed).
Be sure to tag us into your post (search for Winston’s Wish)
For Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook:
If any of my friends or followers are grieving or supporting a young person who is, I want you to know you don’t have to go it alone. Winston’s Wish helps young people (up to 25) to rebuild their life after grief. Visit winstonswish.org or call 08088 020 21 to talk to someone today. #WinstonsWish #NoChildGrievesAlone #NoYoungPersonGrievesAlone
For Twitter:
No child or young person should ever grieve alone. @WinstonsWish helps young people (up to 25) to rebuild their life after grief. Visit winstonswish.org or call 08088 020 21 #WinstonsWish #NoChildGrievesAlone #NoYoungPersonGrievesAlone
Below are some images you can share on social media. Just click on the one you would like to share to open it up, right click and save to your device:
3. Donate, fundraise or volunteer
Winston’s Wish is a charity with 95% of our running costs being funded by donations. In turn, we delivery all of our support to grieving children and young people for free.
You can help us to continue our vital, life changing work by making a £5 donation, taking on an event or challenge or organising your own fundraiser. Our friendly fundraising team are on hand to help you every step of the way.
If you’d like to donate your time, check out our latest volunteer roles including Community Ambassadors and Volunteer Counsellors.
4. Download our free resources for schools
We have a range of resources and training programmes available for staff who are supporting grieving child and young people in schools. From free PSHE lessons, to creating a bereavement policy to charters, guides, training and more, visit our Support for Schools hub to provide the best support for the young bereaved people in your care.
