How unresolved grief could haunt children who lost a parent or caregiver to COVID

[question everything]

Really heartwrenching

Judy Woodruff:

More than 775,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19, a staggering figure. Left behind are tens of thousands of children, some orphaned entirely after the parent or grandparent who cared for them died. In this report co-produced with the "NewsHour," Kaiser Health News correspondent Sarah Varney looks at the risks these grieving children face to their well-being, both in the short and long term.

Sarah Varney:

Betty Hamilton says her five grandchildren still haven't accepted that their dad died suddenly of COVID in August. The boys, ages four to 10, came to live with her in Eastman, Georgia, because their mom is gone too. She died in a car crash years earlier, and they needed a home. Now Betty's day is filled with helping her grandsons with homework. And she spends endless hours in the kitchen, trying to feed the growing boys. If only it were that simple. She gets no financial help for the boys from the government, except food stamps and Medicaid.

(snip)

Their aunt, Carla Hamilton, tried to move the boys into her home in Gwinnett County, but her landlord said they weren't on her lease. Now she frequently makes the trip, three hours each way, to help her mom figure out the basics, setting up a GoFundMe page and finding a bigger house. And caring for the boys' mental health.

(snip)

Ten-year-old London McBurnie and her mom, Lauri Clay, started coming to Kate's Club after London's dad, Joel McBurnie, died of COVID in August at age 46. Processing grief in the time of COVID is complicated. Some children feel guilty for infecting a parent. Others, like London, are angry that their parent didn't get vaccinated or wear a mask. And do you find, when people don't wear their masks, does that make you mad? London McBurnie, Daughter of COVID Victim: Yes, because it reminds me of not — of daddy not wearing the — his mask at the soccer — the last soccer game. And I told him to put it on, but he said he would put it on, but he never did. So — and I — that's when I got mad.

More..

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-unresolved-grief-could-haunt-children-who-lost-a-parent-or-caregiver-to-covid

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. This breaks my heart

[gratuitous]

2. I've been thinking this for months

How does a kid come to terms with one or both parents dead from COVID after the vaccine became widely available? Didn't Mom and Dad love us enough to take a simple measure to stay alive? Were their ridiculous claims of individual freedom more important than me?

The pandemic madness will fade, and it may be difficult for those who come after to understand why so many people refused to be vaccinated. The surviving children will live their lives dealing with a complex churn of emotions. It's bad enough to lose a parent (or parents) because of a traffic accident or a natural disaster, but to be left with little more than "Why?" because of some hare-brained delusion? It's gotta be devastating.

[Backseat Driver]

3. Yes, this...

..."to be left with little more than "Why?" because of some hare-brained delusion? It's gotta be devastating."

However that happens, it is!