Sunrise Center Celebrates Children's Grief Awareness Day

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COOK. Madam Speaker, Children's Grief Awareness Day was created in 2009 to foster awareness and understanding about the impact of death on children. As we approach the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we enter a particularly difficult time for grieving children. One in five children will experience the death of someone close to them by age 18, one in twenty children will experience the death of a parent by age 18, and approximately 1.9 million children under 18 have lost one or both of their parents.

The Sunrise Center helps children dealing with grief, by offering a place of hope and healing for children, teens, and their families who are experiencing grief and loss due to the advanced illness or death of a loved one or being placed in foster care. Their hard work supports children suffering from grief in a safe, loving, and understanding environment.

Children's Grief Awareness Day is an important way for all of us to remember those in our society who are dealing with the emotional trauma relating to the death or loss of a loved one. I applaud the Sunrise Center for all they do to support local children dealing with these tragic circumstances, and I sincerely thank their volunteers and staff for making a difference in children's lives.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source