Children are too often the forgotten mourners in the homes of dying patients. Children, even young children, and youth grieve and mourn the threatened and, then, actual loss of a dying parent, sibling, or other significant family member.¹ At a time when the family resources and focus are pulled away and taxed, caregivers are tasked with the difficult job of sorting through their own emotions and a wealth of advice. Caregivers must decide how they will communicate with, include, and support the children/youth in their care.

Although evidence is incomplete and there is a clear need for further studies, links between unresolved childhood grief, or an inability to adequately process their grief, and subsequent psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety have been presented as far back as Freud.^{[2], [3], [4] and [5]} In addition, prevalent feelings of responsibility and exclusion and poor communication are consistently identified by researchers interviewing bereaved children/youth about their own experience over the last couple of decades.^{[6], [7] and [8]} Therefore, given the risk of negative psychological and social outcomes associated with children's grief and the struggles communicated by children themselves, it is critical to recognize the important and preventive role of supportive interventions, especially prior to the death of a significant family member.

Looking at caregivers' experiences, there is still a large divide between the advice given by many family and friends in this situation (see Table 1) and what has become accepted within the palliative and grief counseling fields as “best practice.”^{[6], [7] and [8]} In addition, family members' access to professionals trained or knowledgeable in this area is growing but usually still limited.⁹ Many children/youth are left uninformed, unprepared, and cut off from their family's support.