Articles

November is Military Family Appreciation Month as well as Child Mental Health Month. It is a good time to remember the loss experienced by the youngest family members, and to share what we’ve learned about how to help them with their pain and grief.

Over the last six years of working at ICFF events, it’s been difficult not to see that children are impacted by the loss of their loved ones. I’ve noticed three trends of questions that parents or kinship caregivers have about their children mourning the loss of a parent. I often get worried questions about the child crying too much, about how to tell them their parent is gone, and concerns that the grief is going on too long. Continue reading “3 Answers about Working with Grieving Children”

People often ask us about the “origin story” of ICFF, and want to know what led to the kind of inclusive and emotionally uplifting events that we are known for.

It grew out of the pain and loss that people were feeling as military casualties hit home. At the time, the war in Iraq was still going on. We were concerned about what local resource and services were being provided to the families who were losing loved ones in the war. There were support resources being offered by the Department of Defense on a national level, but very little happening at the state or local level.

HDA was working with the National Guard on other initiatives when I was introduced to someone who had just been hired for a new program. The Army had just begun “Survivor Outreach Services” to provide ongoing services to families. The program was very new, and we all agreed that in order for them to earn the trust of the families they would need to meet them in person. Continue reading “Where ICFF Came From”