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Championing the voices of bereaved siblings
November 20, 2025
Family support team leader, Meg Chin, is making significant strides in the field of grief research, particularly in understanding the long-term impacts of childhood sibling loss.
Her co-authored paper, Re-imagining Childhood Grief: Children as Agents in a Transactional Process, was published in the respected journal OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying, and has sparked important conversation in the field.
It emphasises the importance of giving children a voice in the grieving process, rather than assuming how they feel.
In October, this research formed the foundation of Meg’s presentation at Good Grief This Hurts – Growing Up and Grieving, an event organised by Queensland Health and QuoCCA.
The paper also plays a central role in Meg’s PhD, which is supported by Very Special Kids.
Addressing the gap in sibling grief research
“When you look at all the literature, it’s from the adults’ point of view,” Meg said.
“Most of the limited research is from the perspective of a parent, which led me to see a real gap in lived experience evidence and research from the children themselves.”
This insight inspired her PhD project, When a child dies from a life-threatening condition: hearing the voices of bereaved siblings.
Her studies have followed children between the ages of five to 12, and focus on grief beyond the first two years of their sibling’s death.
She’s found that the emotional weight of loss often persists long after the initial mourning period.
“We know that the grief is just as hard two to five years following the death,” she explains.
She hopes her research emphasises not only the importance of extending the research timeline but also the need to seek feedback directly from children, rather than relying solely on their parents’ point of view.
A unique approach to grief support
Beyond academia, Meg has co-developed and co-facilitated a bereaved sibling group, designed to be flexible and responsive to sibling’s needs. The group is led by the children themselves, allowing them to express their grief in their own way and at their own pace. Using creative techniques like mood-mapping, children can visually express their feelings.
Meg has seen firsthand the transformative power of a space where children are free to explore their grief naturally with their peers.
“In the beginning, it is very much about building rapport with the children and finding out from them how they want it to work,” Meg says.
“There’s a lot of play and creativity, and it’s incredible what you can uncover organically when you invite children into a space where they can explore their grief in ways that are meaningful to them.”
However, Meg also notes the social barriers that often limit children’s ability to express their grief.
“Children learn very early on in their grief that it makes others uncomfortable if their grief is visible,” she says.
“They describe ‘wearing a mask’ when interacting with others, which offers self-protection in environments where they don’t always feel safe to express their emotions.”
This societal discomfort around grief, especially sibling death, is a challenge that Meg hopes to address with her ongoing research.
By highlighting the voices of bereaved siblings, she aims to create resources and tools that not only improve Very Special Kids’ services but also help educate the community about sibling loss and supporting children through their grieving process.
A lifelong passion for advocacy
As an advocate, Meg has played a key role in developing the Rights of the Child Working Group at Very Special Kids and has presented at numerous symposiums and conferences on the importance of including children’s perspectives in the grief process.
Most recently, Meg presented at the virtual Canadian Children’s Grief Symposium, alongside three colleagues from her International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement. Their session, titled Reimagining Responses to Childhood Grief, explored how grieving children navigate relationships and social contexts, and how those supporting them can respond with compassion. Their session examined practical strategies that uphold children’s rights, wishes, and needs, while promoting empathy and grief literacy in every interaction.
Meg’s research is poised to make a lasting impact, not only in the field of childhood grief but also in shifting societal attitudes around death and improving the support available to children mourning the loss of a sibling.
“As a society we have a lot more work to do when it comes to how we think and talk about children’s grief,” she says.
“The contributions and perspectives of children will inform how we support and care for children who have experienced the death of a sibling, now and into the future.”
Through her work, Meg is not only advancing the academic understanding of childhood grief but also offering a compassionate, child-centred approach that ensures no child’s voice goes unheard during one of life’s most challenging experiences.
