Helping Children Deal With Grief

The U.S. Census Department says that one child in 20 will have a parent die before he or she graduates from high school. As you might imagine, most kids don't know how to cope with this type of devastating event.

Karen Miller's husband Randy was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February of 2005. The assistant football coach at Bellwood Antis Area High School bravely fought the disease ,but died a year and a half later at the age of 42. The couple had two sons--Tyson now ten and Trevor, six.

Miller says the community reached out to her family and that support helped, but she and the kids needed more. "When you're in the situation you feel like you're alone that nobody else can understand what you're going through. It's very demanding on your body just to get up and do your daily activities."

Fortunately the Miller Family was able to enroll in an area program that offers bereavement services for children and their families. The Home Nursing Agency holds the ten week sessions in Ebensburg and Altoona. "Being around other children that lost a parent or just going thru the same emotions that they don't know what to do with it was a release for them," Miller says.

While the parents socialize, and share their stories, kids get together and sometimes do crafts. The Miller boys put together memory boxes with items that reminded them of their dad. Their mother says she hopes someday to be a volunteer with the program to help other families work through their grief.