Grief and Charity: Exploring the Relationship Between Grieving the Death of a Child and Resulting Charitable Involvement

Abstract

Experiencing the death of a child is a traumatic and horrifying experience for any parent. The topic of grief is well researched; however, there seems to be a gap in the literature as it pertains to ways parents respond to a child’s death. There are many foundations and charities in existence today that have been established in honor of a deceased child. This phenomenon of establishing a foundation seems to be increasing as a common way for parents to respond to their child’s death. How does the establishment of these charities and foundations affect the grieving process for the parents of the deceased child? This study sought to explore one woman’s experience with establishing a foundation in response to her son’s death. The method used for this study was qualitative with interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) with a single participant. The researcher chose to use a single participant because the experience was exemplary of what my research was seeking to explore. It was found that establishing a foundation to carry on the legacy of a deceased child did give the participant a reason to get up each day and proceed with life; however, it also seemed to lock her into repeatedly retelling and reliving the traumatic experience. It was also found that establishing the foundation did not give meaning to her son’s death, but it did offer meaning to her life.