Availability of bereavement support following traumatic pediatric death in a large metropolitan area

Abstract

Following an unexpected pediatric death, survivors undergo unique trauma. Medical examiners (MEs) evaluate most of these deaths. We evaluated the bereavement support available to survivors in the Chicagoland area following a pediatric death. We had two goals: to characterize the available bereavement support options and compare the locations (by zip code) of support groups with the locations (by zip code) in which pediatric ME cases occurred. We identified 48 organizations that provided bereavement support services at 74 locations in the summer and fall of 2020. Locations by zip codes in which the largest number of ME cases occurred did not have support groups. Locations in which more ME cases occurred generally had lower-income populations and a greater proportion of Black or Hispanic residents. Bereavement support following pediatric death is inadequate and unevenly distributed across the Chicagoland area.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Northwestern Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) and the National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) for their funding support. We thank the members of Missing Pieces for their contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Cook County Government Open Data Medical Examiner Case Archive at https://datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/Public-Safety/Medical-Examiner-Case-Archive-Data-Lens/b5va-m3rq.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this work was provided by the Northwestern University Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) and the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG).