When a child loses a parent or sibling, the adults around them can be left wondering how best to support them. What should you say? What might grief look like in a child? And where can families turn when they need support beyond what friends and family can provide?
Australian data on how many children experience the death of a sibling is limited, but international research still gives a sense of the scale. A large population-based study of more than five million children in Denmark and Sweden found around 1 in 100 children experienced the death of a sibling before the age of 18, with the median age at the time of loss just seven years old. In Australia, 1 in 20 children will experience the death of a parent before turning 18. That figure alone shows how many young people are navigating grief during childhood, often quietly and without anyone around them fully realising it.
Losing a close family member changes a child's world, and the effects can linger well past the initial loss. Research involving more than 200,000 people who experienced the death of a parent found they had a significantly higher risk of later depressive disorder than matched peers who had not experienced parental loss. Grief in childhood is not something children simply move through and leave behind. It can shape how they see themselves and the people around them for years to come.
The right support, tools and space to process what has happened can make a real difference. Understanding how grief tends to show up in children, and knowing where families can turn for specialised help, is often the first step.
Understanding How Children Experience Grief
Children do not grieve the way adults do. How a child responds depends on their age and stage of development, their relationship with the person who died, the circumstances of the death and the support they have around them. Some children fall apart. Others seem to carry on as if nothing has changed. Both are normal.
Grief also tends to move in waves rather than following a straight line. A child might be in tears one moment and asking to go outside and play the next. This isn't a sign they aren't grieving properly. As children grow, their understanding of death matures too, so they often revisit a loss and experience it differently at each new stage of childhood and adolescence. Birthdays, anniversaries, family milestones and other significant occasions can bring grief back to the surface years later.
For many children, grief speaks through behaviour rather than words. Australian parenting guidance notes that younger children who have lost a parent may cry more often, have tantrums, withdraw, develop separation anxiety, struggle to sleep or slip back into behaviours they had already grown out of. Headaches and stomach aches are common too.
Older children and teenagers tend to carry grief differently. It can show up in friendships, family relationships and school, through social withdrawal, irritability, trouble concentrating or a drop in school performance, sometimes even avoiding school altogether. Headspace, the Australian youth mental health organisation, notes that grieving young people can also struggle to focus or remember things, notice changes in their sleep or appetite, and swing between wanting closeness and wanting to be left completely alone.
This is part of why childhood grief is so easy to miss. A child who is laughing with friends or getting through the school day can still be grieving underneath it. What helps most is giving them room to talk, ask questions and express what they're feeling in whatever way comes naturally to them, on their own timeline.
Finding Connection Through Feel the Magic
Grief can be a lonely experience for a child who has lost a parent or sibling. Friends their own age often don't understand what they're going through, and a grieving child may not know a single other person who has been through something similar. Meeting other children who do understand can change that.
Meet Feel the Magic
That sense of connection sits at the heart of Feel the Magic, an Australian charity supporting children and families through grief with free, evidence-based programs. For anyone searching for the best children's charities Australia has to offer, Feel the Magic stands out for the incredibly important and specialised work it does with grieving children and their families. The charity supports children who have experienced the death of a parent, guardian or sibling, helping them learn how to face, feel and heal through their grief.
Through its programs, children meet other young people who have been through a significant loss, while also picking up practical strategies for understanding and managing their grief. For families trying to work out where to turn after losing someone close, that combination of tools and community can matter as much as anything else on offer.
Camp Magic
Camp Magic is where much of this work happens. It's a 2.5-day grief education and support program for children and teenagers aged 7 to 17 who have experienced the death of a parent, guardian or sibling.
The camp blends grief education with activities and genuine opportunities to connect. Children take part in structured sessions built around understanding grief, building coping strategies and developing the skills to sit with difficult emotions. Each child is paired with a trained volunteer mentor who stays with them throughout, offering support and encouragement along the way.
Great value simply comes from being surrounded by other children who get it. Feel the Magic describes these peer connections as building a sense of solidarity and easing the isolation so many grieving children feel. Kids are given the chance to share their story if they want to, in a safe and supportive setting, but there's no pressure. Every child moves at their own pace.
Other Support Available Through Feel the Magic
Camp Magic isn't the only way Feel the Magic supports families. The charity runs a range of programs suited to different circumstances and different stages of grief.
These include Family Day Camps, the virtual Healthy Grieving Program and dedicated support for families affected by suicide bereavement. The Healthy Grieving Program helps families build a shared language around grief, learn practical coping strategies and connect with other families who understand what they're carrying. Feel the Magic also offers resources for parents and guardians, recognising that adults play a huge part in helping children make sense of grief as they grow.
Where Families Can Find Support
Families looking for support after the death of a parent, guardian or sibling can find out more about Feel the Magic's grief education programs, upcoming camps and resources directly through Feel the Magic. Programs are tailored to a child's age, circumstances and location, so there's usually an option that fits.
Supporting Feel the Magic
Every Feel the Magic grief support program is free for families to attend, with the charity covering costs including resources, catering and accommodation for children attending Camp Magic through fundraising, sponsorship and donations.
For anyone considering a kids charity donation, charity gifts for kids or charity gifts for children, supporting Feel the Magic is a great way to help make specialised grief support accessible to children and families across Australia.
The Giving Angel is proud to support this work. When you send a Giving Angel, you can choose Feel the Magic as the charity your gift supports, with 100% of your selected donation passed directly to them. For those looking for children’s charity gifts, it brings together a keepsake for someone you care about with a donation that helps Feel the Magic continue providing its grief programs free of charge.
It’s a meaningful way to give beyond the gift itself and support more children and families as they navigate life after loss.