A Rapid Review of Non-death Bereavement Interventions for Children in Alternative Care

Abstract

Every year many children enter the alternative care system due to the unsuitable circumstances in the care of their biological parents, leading to their statutory removal and placement in alternative care, including temporary safe care, foster care or child- and youth care centres. For a child, this is a significant life transition which is characterized by experiences of trauma, loss and grief. These children need therapeutic services (intervention) in order to address these experiences. Literature covers non-death experiences and bereavement intervention of children in different contexts, but only to a limited degree in terms of children in alternative care. This paper reviews past and current literature on what is known about non-death bereavement for children in alternative care by focusing on intervention approaches to address such loss. The study is a rapid review with qualitative data analysis. A total of 14 documents are reviewed. The review indicates that a standard intervention model to address loss and grief as experienced by children in the alternative care system has not yet been established. Although various treatment approaches, activities and models have been suggested, there is no indication of an empirically tested standardized intervention model in the present review.