Young ambassadors from Oxfordshire charity SeeSaw Grief Support have taken their call for better national data on child bereavement to Westminster, meeting Thame and Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo to discuss the experiences of bereaved children and young people.
Aisha Campbell and Nettie Parish, both Young Ambassadors for SeeSaw, visited the House of Commons earlier this month accompanied by the charity’s Communications Manager, Liv Webster.
The meeting focused on the absence of official national statistics recording how many children and young people are bereaved each year.
The issue is not new to Parliament. A House of Commons Library briefing published in February 2026 states that there are no official statistics on the number of bereaved children in the UK.
The Childhood Bereavement Network has instead estimated, using mortality statistics, census data and other sources, that around 46,300 dependent children experience the death of a parent each year.
For SeeSaw, better data would provide a clearer picture of the scale of bereavement among children and help organisations understand local demand, plan services and identify where support is needed.
The charity says the Young Ambassadors also highlighted the importance of ensuring children can access appropriate support regardless of where they live.
Nettie, who has received support from SeeSaw, said the experience of grief can affect the trajectory of a young person’s life, while better data could help government and charities understand what children are experiencing and plan support accordingly.
Following the meeting, van Mierlo wrote to the Minister for Children and Families about the collection of official statistics on bereaved children, according to SeeSaw.
The MP said he was aware through constituents of the importance of bereavement services and the value families place on them, and praised SeeSaw’s work supporting children through grief.
For SeeSaw, the issue has a direct local dimension.
Between July 2025 and June 2026, the Oxfordshire charity supported 557 bereaved children and young people through services including one-to-one support, advice and guidance for families, online resources, and training for schools and professionals.
SeeSaw has provided grief support in Oxfordshire for more than 25 years and says it has supported more than 9,000 children and young people since its launch. The charity provides free support when a child or young person is affected by the death of someone close to them.
Its work extends beyond direct support for families. SeeSaw also offers consultations for professionals working with bereaved children and can provide support to schools following the sudden death of a pupil.
The Westminster visit therefore places an issue encountered by hundreds of Oxfordshire children and families each year within a wider national debate about how child bereavement is measured and supported.
For SeeSaw’s Young Ambassadors, the argument is that understanding the scale of childhood bereavement is an important step towards ensuring that children experiencing loss are not overlooked.
