Camp Kangaroo helps children ease the pain of loss after loved one dies
PLANTATION - Loss is heavy and painful. Around six million children in the U.S. will experience the death of a parent or sibling by the age of 8.
In Plantation, Camp Kangaroo helps ease that pain and makes Miami Proud. It's a bereavement camp for youth to heal after loss.
Through art, music and pet therapy, and other methods, each child is given tools to help ease the pain of loss. For some kids, it's a place where they feel less alone.
"Being around the other kids who have also lost loved ones, like it really lets you connect with other kids and make friends that know what you're going through," said 5th grader Savannah Delatour.
Delatour and her brother Tristian lost their father Greg last year after a two-year battle with stomach cancer. Nine months later they lost their grandfather to cancer too.
Grief counselor Alejandro Zavala said children who experience this kind of loss need special attention.
"The misconception is that kids are resilient, and a lot of adults believe that eventually they will get over it, or eventually they'll process it on their own, but it is not, they need the support," he said.
Zavala said it starts slowly and then builds into what each child needs.
"Grief is personal but at the same time it allows them to be able to experience something together," he said.
For the Delatours it's working
"It lets you see that you're not alone and you're not the only one that this has happened to," said Tristan Delatour, who is in 3rd grade.
Camp Kangaroo is free and for children ages 5 - 17 who have lost someone close to them in the last three years.
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