Pastoral Care is appropriate and can be meaningful to a grieving child. Pastors, church schoolteachers, and other church members should not ignore children and young people after a family loss. Grieving children and youth should feel they belong and are valued members of the church family. This is a time when children and youth need to know Jesus loves them, is suffering with them, and will help them heal. Offer Peer Support Programs.
Parents are often unable to initially support their children because of their own suffering.
In these programs, children or youth are divided into age-specific support groups of three to five children and facilitated by a qualified caring adult who has been trained to use the materials. The program consists of two semesters of seven forty-five minute sessions in each semester, followed by snacks. Rainbows and Spectrum help children and youth work through the grieving process by sharing feelings in confidential setting and by participating in activities with others in their age group. First Presbyterian Church in Verona, New Jersey, has conducted these programs for five years. Currently it serves thirty-five children and is open to all religious faiths and six surrounding communities.