The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the needs of children and teens who are grieving a death and provides education and resources for anyone who supports them. The vision of The National Alliance for Grieving Children is that “No Child Grieve Alone.”

The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) equips bereavement professionals, children’s health professionals and volunteers who work with grieving children with the most effective strategies and tools to better serve their communities and train their staff and constituents. NAGC is a national network of professionals and volunteers including counselors, social workers, therapists, psychologists, physicians, nurses, hospice workers, chaplains, funeral service professionals, child life specialists and others. Through the collective voices of over 1100 members and countless partners nationwide, we educate, advocate and raise awareness about childhood bereavement.

The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) has a rich history of over 20 years with a network of hundreds of organizations, united with one purpose, to address the issues of childhood grief. Through the alliance that has been formed the NAGC has been able to form a strong board of directors and leadership team. Their oversight provides the backbone for the organization. The NAGC has 6 active working committees comprised of staff, board and members across the US that set annual goals and projects. The work of these committees are essential to the NAGC in bringing experience and expertise to the programs and process implementation. The NAGC has placed education and training as a top priority. The NAGC provides education through monthly webinars averaging over 100 participants each month on a variety of specialized topics related to childhood grief. In addition, the NAGC hosts the only annual national conference that focuses on childhood bereavement with approximately 500 attendees participating in approximately 70 workshops focused on best practices for providing support to bereaved children and teens. The third portion of the education focus is the Annual Live Fall Conference and Webcast that provides 200 in-person participants as well as simultaneous webcast across the nation at unlimited sites. Through education and training the field of childhood bereavement has added depth and gained strength. As the field grows stronger, so does the organization.

The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) is governed by a Board of Directors. These diverse members meet on a regular basis and provide oversight for governance and finance.The members are responsible for setting a strategic plan and overseeing the implementation of the plan. In addition to the action items, goals and expectations, the strategic plan provides measurement and evaluation tools to monitor the progress of the organization. In addition, the organization prepares an annual report that highlights the growth and progress of the organization. Each of the committees also develops an annual work plan and sets annual goals. This plans are implemented by both staff and committee members and include both long and short term goals and projects. Progress is monitored by each committee.

The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) has 1,200 members. We have strong attendance at all events. The NAGC continually looks for gaps in resources and opportunities to fill those gaps. One example is the book “When Someone Dies: A Child-Caregiver Activity Book.” Experienced and professional members of the national alliance were content contributors. This format allows the “best of the best” to be included. The NAGC staff was then able to create the book as a great resource to be provided to grieving children and their families. “I’ve been a grief counselor for 32 years, and this is, hands down, the best resource I’ve ever seen!” shared by Julia Ellifritt LISW-S. “When Someone Dies: A Child-Caregiver Activity Book” is an activity book for children that also provides valuable information to parents and caregivers about how grief impacts children. Contained within the pages of the book are activities for children designed to help them better express, understand, and cope with their grief. Each page also offers guidance about how adults can connect with their child on the very difficult subjects of death, dying and bereavement. In the near future, the NAGC with the national network of members, plans to create other similar resources such as a family grief workbook. The NAGC has provided an array of educational opportunities in the past and will continue to do so in the future. On the horizon, is a training specific to volunteers for the many programs and organizations that offer grief support. This training program was identified by the membership as a need that would increase consistency in best practices and efficiency in programming. The training will also be a better use of financial resources and operational time management. This is an example of the continued education and training that NAGC will provide to the childhood bereavement field.