TAPS Camp Offers Solace to Children of the Fallen

TAPS was founded in 1994 and has served over 25,000 families of fallen soldiers during that time. According to their website “TAPS provides comfort and care through comprehensive services and programs including peer based emotional support, case work assistance, crisis intervention, and grief and trauma resources.”

The article below is about the TAPS Good Grief Camp held in Crystal City, Va., over Memorial Day weekend, where approximately 375 children and many adult survivors attended the camp and seminars.

Click HERE for a complete listing of seminars held across the Country.

Children of fallen find comfort at TAPS camp

Jun 7, 2010
By Elaine Wilson

EXCERPT

WASHINGTON (June 1, 2010) — Trevor Jones peers into the vivid blue sky, tightly gripping the string holding his balloon.

A warm breeze is blowing, and his blue balloon bobs against the dozens of red and white ones around it, each held by a child.

The children wait expectantly for the command. The cacophony of chatter dies down just moments before a woman calls out: “Let ‘em go!”

Trevor releases his balloon into the wind, where it joins hundreds of others rising into the sky. They separate and rise swiftly as the children tilt their heads back, squinting into the sun as they strain to keep an eye on their balloon. They don’t look away until the balloons become just distant specks.

Tied to each balloon are one or more messages to a loved one – a father or mother, sister or brother – who had died while serving the nation.

Some of the messages contained a simple, “I love you” or “I miss you.” Eight-year-old Trevor chose to keep his private, a personal moment between him and his soldier dad, who died of a pulmonary embolism three years ago.

The balloon release was one of the culminating events of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors’ Good Grief Camp held in Crystal City, Va., over Memorial Day weekend. About 375 children attended the camp, held in conjunction with the 16th annual TAPS National Military Survivor Seminar. Along with the children, more than 650 adult survivors also attended the seminar, said Ami Neiberger-Miller, TAPS public affairs officer.

While TAPS sponsors regional children’s camps throughout the year, this D.C.-area camp is the largest, drawing families from across the nation.

“They learn how to express feelings, that whatever they’re feeling is OK,” Neiberger-Miller said as children lined up to head back to the hotel. She understands the process on a personal level. Her brother, Spc. Christopher Neiberger, was killed in Baghdad on Aug. 6, 2007, from wounds sustained in an improvised explosive device attack.

Along with the loss of a loved one, military children also suffer secondary losses, she noted. If the surviving parent doesn’t also serve, the family often will move to a new community, and the child loses a familiar environment as well as a known peer support network of teachers and neighbors. The people around them may not understand what the child is going through, she added.

A network of care is vital, Neiberger-Miller said, and is something the camp aims to provide.

LINK TO ARTICLE