A Family and a Death of a Child. Bereavement and Social Support

Abstract

The paper aims at presenting a child’s death as a critical incident both for a family viewed as a system and for its members, and examines the potential challenges and dangers faced when a social support is given in such circumstances. The author addresses the issue of bereavement after a child’s death as a particular type of mourning, describing the dynamics of the process and factors conditioning its proper course. A child’s death is seen as a cause of crisis. The author presents individual and family resources, which enable parents to cope with this particular experience and emphasises the need of the multidimensional social support that is necessary for parents to survive such an ordeal. At the same time the potential obstacles are defined when such as support is given, which mainly refers to its inadequacy. Participation in an external support group is presented by the author as an effective alternative to support given by the relatives of those affected by a child’s death.