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The mission of The Compassionate Friends: When a child dies,
at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated.
The Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support
to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a
sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.
The Compassionate Friends was founded over 40 years ago when
a chaplain at the Warwickshire Hospital in England brought together two sets of
grieving parents and realized that the support they gave each other was better
than anything he, as a chaplain, could ever say or provide. Meeting around a
kitchen table, the Lawleys and the Hendersons were joined by a bereaved mother
and the chaplain, Simon Stephens, and The Society of the Compassionate Friends
was born. The Compassionate Friends jumped across the ocean and was established
in the United States and
incorporated in 1978 in Illinois.
Each chapter, along with the supporting National Office, is
committed to helping every bereaved parent, sibling, or grandparent who may
walk through our doors or contact us.
Today TCF has about 660 chapters serving all 50 states plus WashingtonD.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam
offer friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved parents, siblings,
grandparents, and other family members during the natural grieving process
after a child has died. Around the world more than 30 countries have a
Compassionate Friends presence, encircling the globe with support so
desperately needed when the worst has happened.
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