SUDC Bereavement Series Topic 10

Each family has specific coping skills, support systems and individual means to deal with its pain. Many times, families want to raise awareness, advocate for the cause, raise funds or, most importantly, honor their child.   

 Please visit our website to learn how to create a memorial, an event, or get some other ideas. Some families may be ready to develop a plan within weeks of a child’s death.  Others may never choose to do so.  We believe that it is never too late to memorialize your child. The SUDC staff is available to discuss and support your ideas. Even though our children may not be present, their memory always can be.   

 View memorials on the SUDC website:  https://sudc.org/family-services/sudc-memorial-tributes

Below are some ideas from other families: 

• Create a website to honor your child’s memory 

• Have a teddy bear or quilts made from your child’s clothing 

• Book drive for a local library  

• Hold a “Run for A Reason,” silent auction or event to raise funds for SUDC awareness 

• Dedicate a bench and/or statue in a playground, community park, church or neighborhood 

• Start a memorial fund for grief counseling, burial funds or medical research 

• Create a CD or playlist with your child’s favorite songs 

• Share a scholarship to a local preschool 

• Organize a children’s bike ride to raise funds for a national charity 

• Coordinate a group project to paint a mural in a pediatric unit on the day of your child’s birthday 

• Publish a memorial notice in local paper on birthday or anniversary date 

• Hold a family gathering on your child’s birthday or anniversary  

• Coordinate the maintenance of the children’s area of a local cemetery 

• Make a memory box or collage with sympathy cards, flowers, and balloons 

• Create a memory box with your child’s picture, special clothing item, and some favorite things 

• Send seed packets to family and friends with a letter or info card about your child 

• Hold a balloon, butterfly or lantern release on child’s birthday or anniversary 

• Lead a letter writing campaign about SUDC to local and/or state politicians, pediatricians, medical examiners 

• Create a basket of comfort items to give other grieving parents at the hospital 

• Name a star after your child 

• Make a bracelet or necklace with your child’s name, picture or favorite colors 

• Campaign to change a state’s diagnostic codes to include SUDC   

• Write a book for children about SUDC loss and grief 

• Attend a candle lighting ceremony on your child’s anniversary, birthday or National Day of Remembrance in December 

• Create a memory book or video of the child 

• Write a poem, story, or song written for the child