3 Additional Internet Grief Sites

In my internet searches I have discovered three additional organizations that help bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents cope with the loss of a child. A brief description and the web site of each follows:

THE COPE FOUNDATION - www.copefoundation.org

This is a grief and healing organization dedicated to helping parents and families living with the loss of a child. Since 2000, COPE (Connecting Our Paths Eternally) has connected individuals who have experienced similar losses by providing ongoing emotional, therapeutic and spiritual programs. These include monthly parent and sibling bereavement support group meetings, weekly art and movement therapy workshops, and a variety of special programs for members mourning a child’s passing, as well as the community.

This group is based on Long Island, but it also provides help to those outside the area with immediate support and resources and referrals. COPE enables individuals grieving the death of a child to find strength from within to face the difficult journey that lies ahead for them. It also builds upon the bonds of love and energy that connect us with our children offering ongoing emotional support, spiritual and therapeutic programs, as well as resources and referrals. They hold monthly support meetings; they reach out to parents with monthly newsletters and they have a ‘buddy system.”

HEALING HEARTS FOR BEREAVED PARENTS – www.healingheart.net

Also a grief support for bereaved parents, this organization’s volunteers are here to help. “We have known the pain that the death of a child brings. We have struggled with and worked on our grief and finally have made peace with that sorrow.”

Their purpose is to offer understanding, suggestions for coping, support, friendship and most of all hope to all parents who are struggling with grief, no matter the cause of death. They suggest books and items that bereaved parents may want to purchase through their Grief Store. In order to raise some funds, they also have toys for sale. A monthly newsletter is published and sent free of charge for the first year to all who are interested in receiving it.

ROWAN TREE FOUNDATION – www.rowantreefoundation.org

“Welcome to our community. We are sorry that you have a need to be here, but you have found a safe place to seek loving kindness, information, and unconditional support. You are most certainly not alone on your journey!”

RTF is a non-profit organization providing support to families that have suffered a prenatal or infant loss. They are based in Colorado and have a variety of activities planned throughout the year. Coming up for Grief Awareness Week Dec. 15-21, the group is having a free screening of the movie “Motherland” on December 16. The movie tells the story of six diverse American women that came together in December of 2006 to journey to rural South Africa as volunteers working with poor children. These women share one life-changing experience in common: each has suffered the death of a child. Other activities during the year are a butterfly release, a charity benefit, a candlelight remembrance and an annual walk to remember the children