What losing a child does to the family

Grief and bereavement as a margin and frontier of parenting

Abstract

This article aims to study the consequences of the loss of a child on the family and its members, through the particular example of children who died during their adolescence. Based on interviews with parents and siblings having lost a child (or sibling) aged 12 to 25, this article suggests that bereavement produces a particular marginality, resulting from the confrontation between two contradictory statuses. We will use the notions of “boundaries” and “margins” in a contemporary and sociological perspective to show that bereaved parents find themselves in a marginal situation and seek to reaffirm their parental role, which is called into question by bereavement. However, their position can only be understood in relation to that of the deceased child and his or her place in the family. The modalities of family reconfiguration and the redefinition of its borders will therefore be analysed.