Drawing on data from 753 children and young people who have experienced the death of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces, the report explores who is accessing Scotty’s support, how quickly families are reaching us, and how they engage with our services.
Key findings include:
Scotty’s quickly and equitably reaches bereaved military families following a death. With 65% of newer members joining within one year of death, and equitable representation across the branches and ranks. We were particularly pleased to see that bereaved veteran families are finding us nearly as quickly as those in service at death.
Military families bereaved by suicide are most likely to seek help from the charity. Families bereaved by suicide are more likely to join the charity than other causes of death, and in particular veteran Army families bereaved by suicide. This finding is important as children bereaved by parental suicide are at greater risk of suicidal ideation than children bereaved by other causes of death and so it is important to have readily accessible, long-term support available.
Bereaved military families need long term support. Respite breaks is one of the most highly utilised services we offer, with 92% of children accessing at least one break and 88% of children accessing multiple respite breaks. The high demand for breaks is maintained across many years (up to ten years) demonstrating the longevity of need. The consistently high uptake across all ranks shows these breaks offer something deeper than “just a holiday”: protected time for families to reconnect, talk, and heal.
Bereaved military children who struggle to cope with their grief need support to manage anger issues, self-harm and access to education. Amongst children accessing 1:1 support, the majority of children (59%) reported having problems with anger, and over a quarter said they were self-harming or had thoughts of suicide. Half of the children accessing support reported a negative impact on education including disengagement from school, school absenteeism, and inability to concentrate in lessons.
Key areas for further study are also identified, including the needs of children under 10, participation in extracurricular activities, and the growing number of veteran Army families bereaved by suicide who turn to Scotty’s for support.
