What might have been-what could be: Working with the grief of children in long-term care

Abstract

“What might have been. what could be'. The stuff dreams are made of. However, the longing, searching, and yearning implied are, each in their own way, activities of anguish which shift the golden romantic dream to torment. Being near a child who is pining in this way is uncomfortable and causes us distress - and all the individual ways of dealing with that distress. We've all been children. We all know what it is to loose something, or to be separated from someone important to us. We know how it can consume us and feel as if it's the end of the world. “A child does not know death - only absence; and in absence, the parent may as well be dead, so overwhelming is the child's sense.of loss (Robertson, 1952);'