07/16/2025
"Ask an Expert Question:
My father died last summer. He seemed fine but when the doctor said he had cancer in his pancreas he died in three weeks. I couldn’t believe it. No one at school understands because their parents are all alive, so now I hate being there. If I had a brother or sister it might be better, but it’s only me. My mother cries a lot on her own, so I don’t want to bother her. Is there help for kids?
Answer:
I am so sorry for your loss. Losing a parent when you are young and in school is not “how it’s supposed to be.” Yet it happens. While exact statistics are not known, the National Institutes of Health estimates that 5 percent of children in the United States lose one or both parents by age 15. Another fact is that the Social Security benefit program for children who have lost parents includes at least 1.9 million children in the US.
But even though a lot of kids are affected, it’s still a very lonely thing to go through. We assume parents will be around until their kids are grown and independent, so it goes against normal expectations. A grieving teenager told me once, “It’s like I became a member of a club I didn’t want to join.” You sound like a lot of grieving young people who also feel isolated in grief."
Read more from the "Teens and grief" article here: https://bit.ly/44LjYVG
