History

We have an ongoing commitment to the health of the community, especially its children. The Children’s Room began in February 1993 when a group of healthcare professionals was trained by the nationally recognized Dougy Center for Grieving Children, located in Portland, Oregon. The Dougy Center has been in operation for 20 years and currently serves 275 children. It was spotlighted on ABC’s “20/20″ television news program, and has served as a model for 85 programs emerging throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, England, and Japan. The Children’s Room originally operated for two and a half years as part of Hospice West in Waltham, Massachusetts. In November 1995, work began on making The Children’s Room an independent, incorporated 501(C)(3) center.

In April 1999, The Children’s Room, Center for Grieving Children and Teenagers, Inc. opened as an independent, non-profit center in Arlington, Massachusetts with nine children, seven families, and eight experienced volunteers. Children ranging in age from 6 to 12 had lost parents to sudden heart attack, colon cancer, leukemia, and myeloma. In the first 14 months of operation as an independent center, The Children’s Room quadrupled its participant base.

Today, our current participants include children ages 3 to 18 and their families. Some of these children witnessed the sudden death of their loved one, other children lost parents or siblings to lengthy illnesses.

The Children’s Room evaluates its ongoing services through surveys and volunteer processing sessions. These evaluations tell us how well we are doing our job and how we can improve. We have been featured in local and regional newspapers. Our program director has given presentations at church groups, clubs, organizations, hospitals, funeral director’s associations, schools, and colleges. Children are referred to the program by teachers, mental health counselors, pediatricians, hospice workers, funeral directors, social workers, and families who are or have been in the program.