17 June 2021, 19.00 – 20.30

Online Via Zoom

When our Child has Died Abroad

Losing a child is probably the most painful event that can occur in anyone’s life. When a child dies abroad there may be many additional problems that arise. The terrible shock of hearing the dreadful news of our son and daughter dying overseas may cause confusion as well as emotional agony.

There may also be a range of practical and bureaucratic problems we have to face including the challenges which long distances and language barriers can bring.

There might be other other issues and questions too when our child dies overseas such as whether or not to go to the place where they died; managing customs in other parts of the world; the need to discover the truth of how our child died.

In time, we will find that as the intense pain of our grief ceases to be constant we will be more able to enjoy the happy memories that our child has left.

At this time we are running this event as a facilitated online group using Zoom conferencing software.

Unfortunately due to the nature of online groups we will be limiting the number of attendees and booking is via our website only.

We will confirm your attendance by email.

We will be giving priority to those who have not attended an online TCF group before.

Once you book you will receive more details closer to the meeting date. Just a reminder to check your spam or junk email folders if you haven’t received the link for the online meeting by the day of the meeting.

Please contact info@tcf.org.uk if you have any questions or queries.

Please note that these online events are run by bereaved parent volunteers. Our volunteers are not professionals and so what we offer is a uniquely warm, comforting and supportive online group organised and facilitated by parents who have also experienced the loss of a child and have found understanding and hope themselves through The Compassionate Friends.

If you are newly bereaved:
Please note, our online support group meetings may not be the most appropriate form of support for very newly bereaved parents. We know how vulnerable we can be in the early weeks and months of our grief and how raw the pain and heartache can feel.

In an online support environment, we will of course do all we can to express our empathy to newly bereaved parents verbally but we won’t be able to offer the very important physical presence and contact that physical groups can offer especially when parents become very upset. Our online meetings tend to be shorter than physical meetings which also means that we won’t have as much time to hear from all group members in the ways in which we would do if we were meeting face to face.

We know that in the early days of our grief, there is a strong need to tell our ‘story’ about the loss of our precious child. We know that this is a very important part of grieving – however, our support groups, whether online or face to face can only offer the opportunity to say a little about your loss and in not too much detail so as to enable everyone to have a chance to speak and also to minimise the risk of anyone attending being re-traumatised around their own loss by hearing graphic details of someone else’s loss. It would help to know how early you are in your loss and whether you are already receiving TCF support – what we don’t wish to do is increase the vulnerability of any bereaved parent by not managing your expectations about what our support group offers and is unable to offer. We may make contact if we need to explore with you whether our online group support is the most appropriate way to support you at this stage in your loss.

Please note this group is for bereaved parents in the UK only – if you want to join from abroad please contact us on events@tcf.org.uk

What parents have said who attended a previous group:

"It helped to not feel so alone in our bereavement as no-one else can really know how it truly feels to lose a child apart from other parents who have been through the same experience. It was particularly helpful to hear the unique experiences of other parents who had experienced the shock of a sudden death and the harrowing ordeal of dealing with officials in another language."

"It was a really useful session. Our circumstances are so particular and it was great to hear that the struggles we’ve faced are shared. Everyone was very supportive."

Please give your feedback here.