Communicating effectively when helping parents to organise a funeral for their child

Most parents do not expect their child to die before them, and organising a funeral for one’s child can be one of the most difficult things a parent can ever be asked to do. Some parents may see the funeral simply as something to be ‘got through’, whereas others may see it as a key moment in the grieving process. However the parents view the funeral, the communication that they have with funeral professionals during this time can make a real difference to their grieving experience.
We conducted a study, supported by the True Colours Trust1, in which we investigated bereaved parents’ experiences of bereavement and the communication that they had had with funeral professionals following the death of their child. We interviewed 24 parents who had lost a child of any age. During the interviews, we asked them about the experience of the loss itself, and the kind of communication they had with professionals. In our analysis of the transcripts of the interviews, we identified examples of effective and less effective communication. In this article, we report some of the key themes that emerged from our study with respect to the communication parents had with funeral professionals.