Improving Childhood Bereavement Services

EDM number 2023 in 2006-07, proposed by Edward Davey on 25/07/2007.

That this House recognises that the death of someone close brings change and challenge into the life of a young person, and can be devastating; notes that around one in 25 children and young people of school age have experienced the death of a parent, brother or sister, and that many others are affected by the death of someone else close; is disappointed that, while some receive excellent support, others struggle to find help, that many people providing support have no training and that data on the scale of childhood bereavement is inadequate; therefore supports the Childhood Bereavement Network's campaign for all bereaved children, young people and their families to have access to appropriate support, wherever they live and however they have been bereaved; believes that the Government should place a duty on all children's services authorities to demonstrate how they meet bereaved children's needs; calls for training on bereavement in childhood to become part of standard training for teachers, with courses made available to existing school staff; believes that every school and early years setting should have a senior manager with responsibility for bereavement support, to ensure that information on local sources of support is available to parents, carers, children and young people; and calls on Ministers across departments to ensure that data on the number of children and young people bereaved of a parent or sibling is collected and reported upon each year.

This motion has been signed by a total of 62 MPs.