National Alliance for Children's Grief
Network of 2,000+ local children's grief centers — the best starting point for finding one near you.
Grief Support Children & Teens
Grief Support for Children & Teens
Children grieve in bursts — devastated at breakfast, playing by noon — and adults often misread the playing as being fine. Kids' grief also gets carried quietly, because children protect their surviving parents by hiding it. Both patterns are normal, and both are why grief support built for kids exists.
The good news is unusually good: the US has a dense network of children's grief centers — more than 2,000 in the National Alliance for Children's Grief network — plus free weekend and summer bereavement camps. Nearly all of it costs nothing.
Verified Networks
Where the real support is
Every organization here is national, established, and built around this specific loss. Formats and costs are listed so you know before you click.
The Dougy Center
The original children's grief center, with peer groups in Portland and resources used nationwide.
Eluna (Camp Erin)
Free weekend bereavement camps for grieving kids and teens across the US.
Experience Camps
Free one-week summer camps for grieving children.
Local & Verified
Dedicated local centers for this loss
Standout local organizations we’ve verified — each city guide has more, including every hospice grief program in that metro.
OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center — New York
The LA grief center's New York branch — peer support groups for children, teens, adults, and families, grouped by age and relationship to the person who died.
OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center
LA's dedicated grief support center — age- and loss-specific peer groups across multiple locations, for adults, teens, and children.
Bo's Place
Houston's bereavement center — free grief groups for children, families, and adults, in English and Spanish.
Billy's Place
Grief support for children, teens, and their families in the West Valley — family programs plus a lending library of grief resources.
Uplift Center for Grieving Children
Free peer grief groups for Philadelphia youth K–12 and their caregivers, plus the Philly HopeLine — services in English and Spanish.
Penn Medicine Bereavement Services
Adult grief counseling and eight-session groups, children's programs, and the free Camp Erin Philadelphia weekend camp for grieving kids.
Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas
San Antonio's dedicated center for grieving children, teens, and their families.
Grief and Loss Center of North Texas
No-cost monthly virtual groups for adults grieving a child, spouse, or other loss, plus the in-person SAM's program for grieving kids and teens.
Community Hospice & Palliative Care
Jacksonville's nonprofit hospice — bereavement counseling, grief groups, and Camp Healing Powers for grieving children ages 7–17.
OhioHealth Loss & Healing Services
Counseling, support groups, expressive art therapy, a youth grief camp, and pregnancy and infant loss support across central Ohio.
KinderMourn
Charlotte's home for bereaved parents and grieving children and teens — support groups, counseling, and community education.
Center for Grief and Healing at Carolina Caring
Free community grief groups and counseling with licensed clinicians — in person west of Charlotte or virtual across its 13-county area, plus the Brighter Days program for kids.
Brooke's Place
Peer support groups, therapy, and education for grieving children, teens, young adults, and their families.
Riley Grief Services
Free individual and family counseling, groups, and workshops for parents, siblings, and family after the death of a child — with virtual options.
Judi's House
Grief care for children and families — one of the country's leading children's bereavement centers.
Wendt Center for Loss & Healing
DC's grief and trauma center — individual and group therapy for children, youth, and adults, including support after overdose and violent loss.
Capital Caring Health Grief Support
Free individual, family, and group grief counseling plus children's grief camps across DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia — no hospice connection required.
Care Dimensions
Grief groups, workshops, and counseling from Massachusetts' nonprofit hospice — children's programs plus suicide-, substance-, and pet-loss groups.
Alive Grief Center
Individual counseling, loss-specific groups, school programs, and a free overnight camp for grieving kids — open to anyone, with services in Spanish.
Henry Ford SandCastles Grief Support Program
Free peer grief groups for children and teens ages 3–18 and their families, at sites across Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties — plus a summer camp.
The Dougy Center
The original children's grief center — peer support groups for grieving kids, teens, and their families, based in Portland.
Baptist Centers for Good Grief
Free grief counseling with no session limit, support groups, and Camp Good Grief for children and teens — funded entirely by donors.
Roberta's House
Baltimore's family grief center — peer groups for children, teens, and adults, with programs for homicide, infant loss, and overdose grief.
The Counseling Center at Stella Maris
Grief counseling and support groups for adults, teens, and children five and up — in person in Timonium or by telehealth.
Children's Wisconsin Grief Support
Free counseling and monthly groups for bereaved parents, young adults, and kids 5–18 with their caregivers, plus family grief retreats.
Children's Bereavement Center
Free weekly peer grief groups for children 4+, teens, young adults, and adults — in English, Spanish, and Creole — plus perinatal loss groups.
Catholic Health Services — Hospice Grief Support
Bereavement counseling and free adult groups for up to 13 months after a loss, open to the whole South Florida community, plus Camp Erin for youth.
The Circle of Love Center
Chapters Health's grief center in Tampa and Ruskin — peer groups, counseling, and the Camp Circle of Love weekend for grieving children and families.
Empath Health Grief Services
Grief counseling for adults and children across Tampa Bay — including traumatic and perinatal loss — plus the Blue Butterfly program for kids 5–18.
Annie's Hope — The Center for Grieving Kids
Comprehensive grief support for children, teens, and their families across the St. Louis region.
Before Your First Meeting
What these groups are actually like
Children's grief centers run peer groups by age band, usually alongside a caregiver group in the next room — kids will say things to grieving peers that they will never say to a worried parent. Sessions look like art, games, and play, because that's the language children grieve in.
Camps like Camp Erin and Experience Camps compress the same effect into a weekend or a week: a camper who arrives believing they're the only kid whose dad died meets forty others. Counselors consistently call it the fastest normalization they've ever seen.
Finding one near you: beyond the networks above, your local hospice is required to offer bereavement support and most run free community grief groups — call and ask for the bereavement coordinator. More on that here.
Want this list in your inbox?
One email with every network on this page, plus a short guide to choosing a group. No newsletter, no follow-ups — just the list, to read when you’re ready.
Questions
What families ask
How do I know if my child needs grief support or just time?
A reasonable rule: if the household has had a significant death, a children's grief group is worth trying regardless of symptoms — it's normalizing, not pathologizing. Seek professional help promptly if you see months of sleep problems, school refusal, regression, or talk of wanting to join the person who died.
Are the camps really free?
Camp Erin (Eluna) and Experience Camps are free for every camper, funded by donors. Spots fill, so apply early — most run applications months ahead of the season.
Should my child attend the funeral?
Children's grief specialists generally say yes, if the child wants to and is prepared for what they'll see — being excluded from the goodbye often hurts longer than the service ever would. Give them the choice, a preview, and an adult whose only job is them.
While You’re Here
Free tools, if they’d help
Made for the same reason this directory exists. No account, no charge.
Other Losses
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Help them remember, not just miss
Some families commission a painting of the person their kids lost — a permanent, living presence in the house that says: they were here, they were loved, we still say their name.