Sibling Death: Child Grief.
ANSWER
Title: Supporting Children Coping with the Death of a Sibling
Introduction: Childhood grief is a complex and multifaceted experience that various forms of loss can trigger. One particularly challenging type of loss is the death of a sibling. This assignment explores how a sibling’s death impacts children, focusing on a 10-year-old and a 4-year-old, and discusses best practices for social workers when working with children experiencing this type of loss.
Impact of Sibling Death on Children: The death of a sibling can have profound and lasting effects on children. Research suggests these impacts may differ depending on the child’s age and developmental stage.
- Emotional Impact:
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- 10-Year-Old: A 10-year-old child may experience intense emotions such as sadness, anger, guilt, and confusion. They may better understand death’s finality but still struggle to cope with the loss.
- 4-Year-Old: A 4-year-old may have limited comprehension of death’s permanence and may exhibit emotional reactions like confusion, anxiety, and regression. They might have difficulty articulating their emotions.
- Cognitive Impact:
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- 10-Year-Old: The older child may have more advanced cognitive abilities to process the meaning of death and its consequences. They might ponder existential questions and seek explanations.
- 4-Year-Old: A 4-year-old’s cognitive development is limited, making it challenging to fully grasp the concept of death. They may have a magical thinking style, believing their sibling will return.
- Behavioral Impact:
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- 10-Year-Old: The older child might show changes in behavior, such as academic performance decline or social withdrawal. They may also act as a caregiver to their grieving parents.
- 4-Year-Old: A 4-year-old may display regressive behaviors like bedwetting, thumb-sucking, or seeking excessive attention from caregivers.
Best Practices for Social Workers: Social workers can play a crucial role in helping children cope with the death of a sibling. Two best practices for working with grieving children include:
- Assessment and Individualized Support:
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- Social workers should conduct age-appropriate assessments to understand the child’s grief experience, developmental stage, and coping mechanisms.
- For the 10-year-old, individual therapy sessions may focus on open communication, psychoeducation about grief, and using art or play therapy to express emotions.
- With the 4-year-old, combining play therapy and parental involvement can help create a safe space for emotional expression and exploration.
- Family-Centered Approach:
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- Engaging the entire family in the therapeutic process is essential. For both age groups, involving parents in therapy can enhance communication and support within the family.
- Encourage parents to maintain routines and provide consistent emotional support. Offer guidance on how to discuss death with their children in an age-appropriate manner.
Approaches for 10-Year-Old and 4-Year-Old Clients:
10-Year-Old Client:
- Use age-appropriate language to discuss death and encourage questions.
- Utilize cognitive-behavioral techniques to help manage emotions and thoughts.
- Engage in storytelling, journaling, or art therapy to facilitate expression.
- Connect the child with peer support groups or school counseling services.
4-Year-Old Client:
- Employ play therapy techniques like drawing, using dolls, or playing with sand trays.
- Maintain consistency in routines and provide comfort objects.
- Foster emotional expression through activities like storytelling and role-playing.
- Collaborate closely with the child’s parents to ensure a supportive home environment.
In conclusion, the death of a sibling can profoundly affect children, with varying impacts based on their developmental stages. Social workers can provide valuable support by employing best practices that involve individualized assessments, age-appropriate interventions, and a family-centered approach to help children navigate their grief and healing process effectively.
QUESTION
Description
Imagine that a 5-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy have lived their entire lives in an apartment with their mother, father, and grandfather, and their father has just been sentenced to 3 years in prison. The little girl may not understand very much about the criminal justice system, but she is very aware that her father used to be a daily presence in her home and he no longer is. The loss of her father’s presence may make her feel both sad and confused. She may even notice that there is something about her father’s absence that the adults in her life seem reluctant to discuss. Her teenage brother is probably acutely aware of the stigma associated with incarceration, and this may add extra layers to his grief experience.
Loss is a common experience in childhood and may take many forms from very ambiguous losses that are difficult to define to concrete losses like death. In this Assignment, you examine the impact of a particular type of loss on children and develop strategies to support children of different developmental stages as they process their grief.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
To prepare:
- Review the Learning Resources on family disruption, loss, death, and grief in childhood.
- Choose one of the following types of loss and research how this type of loss impacts children. You may use the textbook, but you should also identify at least 3 additional pieces of scholarly literature from the Walden Library. (you can login)
- Divorce
- Community Violence
- Death of a Sibling DO DEATH OF A SIBLING
- Imagine that you are a social worker working with two different clients who are experiencing this loss: a 10-year-old and a 4-year-old.
- Consider how the two clients might experience the loss differently and how your social work approach might vary based on the client’s developmental stage.
BY DAY 7
Submit a 3-page paper addressing the following:
- Using evidence from the literature, explain how the loss impacts children.
- Describe two best practices social workers can employ when working with children experiencing this type of loss.
- Describe the approaches you would take to help a 10-year-old client and a 4-year-old client process and work through the loss. In your description, explain how you would integrate each child’s developmental stage into your work with them.
Use the Learning Resources and the literature you identified to support your Assignment. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.
References
- Cohen Konrad, S. (2020). Child and family practice: A relational perspective (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Chapter 10, “Family Disruption and Ambiguous Losses” (pp. 269–302)
- Chapter 11, “Death and Grief in Childhood” (pp. 303–332)
- Chapter 12, “The Impact of Violence on Children” (pp. 333–362)
- Alvis, L., Zhang, N., Sandler, I. N., & Kaplow, J. B. (2022).Developmental manifestations of grief in children and adolescents: Caregivers as key grief facilitatorsLinks to an external site.. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00435-0
- Saleem, F. T., Anderson, R. E., & Williams, M. (2020). Addressing the “myth” of racial trauma: Developmental and ecological considerations for youth of colorLinks to an external site.. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-019-00304-1
- Speaking Grief. (n.d.). Kids grieve differently than adultsLinks to an external site.. https://speakinggrief.org/get-better-at-grief/unde…
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