New Report From Evermore Finds Childhood Bereavement Epidemic Hiding in Plain Sight

Evermore, a national nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing bereavement care for all bereaved children and families, today announced findings from the organization's ?America's Forgotten Orphans' report. Developed in collaboration with The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Southern California, the report is the first of its kind to examine the current and historical trends in childhood bereavement, finding it is an epidemic hiding in plain sight. Additionally, the report outlines the consequences of federal lawmakers, philanthropists, and other public figures prioritizing support only for children who have lost a parent to COVID-19, ??including plans being circulated by lawmakers today. Importantly, the report found that upwards of 95 percent of parentally bereaved children are at risk of being left behind, should this targeted approach be enacted.

While aiding children who have suffered the loss of a parent to COVID-19 is critical, Evermore believes that all parentally bereaved children should receive support, including those bereaved by overdose, suicide, homicide, traffic fatalities, maternal mortality, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.

America's Forgotten Orphans provides analysis and statistics that to date have not been brought to the fore, as well as a national policy agenda to address this urgent crisis unfolding across the United States.

Key findings from the report include:

• Every day, 850 children in the United States experience the death of a parent. More than 2.2 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States have experienced the death of a parent, accounting for three percent of the nation's 72 million children.
• In 2021, childhood bereavement reached a 20-year high due to America's concurrency of mortality epidemics.
• In 2020 and 2021, childhood bereavement rose in every state in the nation and across every racial and ethnic group.
• Since 2000, Indigenous children are becoming parentally bereaved at a higher rate than every other racial or ethnic group, reaching an all-time high of 2.2 times the national rate in 2021.

"An orphaned child's potential for lifelong success, well-being, and prosperity depends on the support he or she receives soon after bereavement," said Joyal Mulheron, Founder and Executive Director of Evermore. "We are hopeful that lawmakers will reconsider a singular national orphan strategy by tending to all parentally bereaved children."

America's Forgotten Orphans' findings and a policy roadmap will be shared with legislators and policymakers.

"We believe it's time for change, not just in America, but across the globe, especially when famine, war, and climate disasters are touching millions," said Jacqueline Corbin-Armstrong, Chair of Evermore's Board of Directors. "Evermore's report is another step in our fight to rework policy and bring all key stakeholders to the table to enact meaningful change."

To download ?America's Forgotten Orphans,' please visit this link. If you're interested in advancing bereavement science, advocating for meaningful policy change, and seeding bereavement innovation in local communities, join us at www.live-evermore.org.

About Evermore

Evermore is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing bereavement care for all children and families. Bereavement is a largely undocumented, and thus "hidden" problem in the United States and the world. In addition to creating immense personal tragedy, bereavement can lead to vast health, economic, and social consequences. Evermore advocates for meaningful policy change, advances in bereavement science, and innovative bereavement programming among communities across the nation.

Abbreviated Report Methodology

Estimations for this report were made using mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via CDC WONDER (Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research) and population data from the American Community Survey (ACS) via IPUMS USA (University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org). Evermore estimated annual rates of parentally bereaved children by calculating the number of parents and mortality rates by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and their state of residence from years 2000 to 2022. Evermore then calculated all-cause (years 2000-2022) and COVD-19 specific (years 2020-2022) mortality rates by age, gender, race/ethnicity, state, and year. Evermore applied these mortality rates to the parent population to determine the share of parents who died from years 2000-2022 and the number of children who were bereaved either due to all causes or COVID-19. Evermore calculated the number of children who would be left behind due to a COVID-19 focused national response by subtracting those bereaved due to COVID-19 from those bereaved due to all-causes.

Please refer to the report for a full-length methodology.