There’s No Place Like Home: Preparing Children for Geographical and Relational Attachment Disruptions Following Parental Death to Cancer

The death of a parent precipitates a number of profound losses and transitions for children, disrupting their sense of safety and security. Children who have lost both parents or who, due to divorce, are relocating across great distances following the death of their custodial parent incur a number of profound secondary losses, including place attachment disruptions. Work with this population should aim to create a holding environment for children to normalize and validate their experiences while keeping them on track academically, socially, and psychologically. The paper will present two case studies and will offer family-, developmental-, and attachment-based interventions to help prepare children for these inevitable transitions. The paper will suggest a unique role for clinicians when working with this population.