Family Lives on Foundation

The tradition program is grounded in research and supports a number of clinically identified needs in bereaved children. It is a therapeutic tool, allowing the ritual of the tradition to provide structure and route to the chaos of life impaired by loss. Engaging in a ritual assists with mitigating grief and can help restore feelings of control. The tradition program is family-based rather than support group oriented and is directed by the child - truly designed to be child-focused. Traditions encourage children to maintain a continuing and emotional connection with the parent who has died, providing for a more natural context to talk about the person who has died. The practice of the tradition fosters resiliency and post-traumatic growth and engages the child actively in a non-threatening, comfortable environment to help move a child through grief into healing. The average child remains in the program for 7 years, so the longevity and continuity nurtures and sustains Family connections throughout the child's development, assisting them to adapt to the death of their parent. Trained volunteers work with children to identify a tradition they shared with their mother or father, and that they want to continue. Volunteers engage the child and Family in a child-focused manner. Each eligible child, including multiple siblings in a single Family, is encouraged to articulate his or her own tradition. Currently served children have chosen activities such as going to the zoo, movie theater or to visit grandma, baking cookies, muffins and cakes, bake-to-school shopping, and planting flowers. Family Lives on then provides the logistics and financial resources for the Family and child's annual participation in the requested tradition each year until the child reaches the age of 18.

Outreach and education - the purpose of our outreach and education material is to communicate the mission on through the development and presentation of workshops, seminars, brochures and news articles we are able to communicate the impact of grief upon a child, how that differs from that of an adult, and clinically identified needs in bereaved children. Like our website and our blog, our materials also educate audiences on the importance of supporting grieving children. To date, more than 40,000 school counselors, bereavement professionals, funeral directors, religious organizations and medical professionals have received materials supporting children in grief.