Support and aid for bereaved military families

Where to find aid as a bereaved military family – support from financial to emotional aid

Military service is a significant personal sacrifice, that an individual makes for national interests – including the safety and protection of their fellow citizens, from strangers to family. A profoundly unfortunate consequence of that sacrifice, for 46 in every 100,000 military personnel, is loss of life.

The impacts of military deaths reverberate throughout the nation, and just as much in peacetime as any other; if you are not a family touched by military bereavement, it can be near-impossible to understand the shape of that difficult journey. For bereaved family members, there are – thankfully – myriad ways in which they can seek support for this journey – from the pastoral to the financial and beyond. Where are these support networks and charities, though?

Charities

There are several leading charities concerned with the armed forces and service personnel, but the most targeted to bereavement care and support is the Army Families Foundation – which helps provide access to a number of resources, from allowance money to access to housing and childcare. The SSAFA is also a good charity to approach as a bereaved family, providing as it does a variety of welfare services to affected families across the entirety of the armed forces.

Financial and legal support

In losing a family member to a military death, bereaved families are often losing a key financial lifeline too – seeing their household reduced to a single-income, or even no-income household. As such, financial support and reparations are nothing short of vital, if only to give them enough medium-term breathing space to re-focus.

While there are avenues for finding financial help, it is also true that the armed forces themselves may have some burden of responsibility for the death of the serviceperson in question. In such cases, specialist military solicitors could be a useful provision for handling claims around the bereavement, and securing potentially-lifechanging compensatory sums.

Professional support

Getting ‘back on the horse’ after suffering a military bereavement is exceedingly difficult, but also a necessary burden to shoulder for remaining family members – particularly where bereaved children are concerned. For widowed spouses, a re-training for or return to a full-time career can be multiply challenging – making professional support a major helping hand. Support organisations can be used to help widowed family members reskill themselves, and find gainful employment to somewhat mitigate the damage caused by loss of military income.

Emotional support

Finally, anyone who has suffered a bereavement of any kind will understand the sheer importance of emotional support to recovery. Only so much of this can come from family and friends; some support must come from an independent or external source. Winston’s Wish is a great example of a charity dedicated to such pastoral support.

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