This chapter explores some of the ethical issues involved in supporting children and young people who have experienced bereavement, highlighting personal, professional and interprofessional dilemmas in line with the aims of Part Four (see Figure 1.1). The authors present cases of children who were bereaved and not effectively supported by adults, whether their own family or professionals. These narratives and the importance of children's rights are discussed using the frame of moral theory.

When an adult is bereaved they can draw upon a life’s-worth of experiences and make use of their cognitive abilities to discern what needs are to be met so as to bring about positive results for their health and well-being (Deci and Ryan, 2002). The adult can then plan a course of action that may be helpful in seeking support in their grief and mourning. In the context of the UK, support could be obtained, for instance, by self-referral to a National Health Service general or mental health practitioner, to the private or voluntary sector, to a work-based counsellor and so on. The adult will attend their appointment, taking with them information that can be communicated to the counsellor or support worker in order to devise a suitable support plan.

Children and young people, on the other hand, are entirely dependent upon adults to take care of them and know what to do. According to Dyregrov (2008, p 15), ‘Children's understanding of death develops in parallel with the child's cognitive maturing through childhood’ and, due to the relationship of dependency upon adults, children and young people are vulnerable if adults do not know how to respond. The range of responses that children and young people may receive are: no response or acknowledgement; little or minimum information; false information; mixed information from varying sources; changing information over time; detailed information. The varied responses given to children may result in some receiving helpful support, but others not. To ensure equitable and easy access to support it could be argued, from a prescriptive ethical perspective with a focus on consequentialism as a normative moral theory (Miner and Petocz, 2003, pp 11–12), that all children and young people should have the right to be consulted about their bereavement needs as a protective measure, because without such provision there may be a risk to their well-being and healthy development.