Evermore’s
Evermore Submits Letter to the U.S. Department of Education to Update FASFA
May 2023
Evermore applauds all ED stakeholders for determining revisions to the FAFSA were warranted, particularly the revisions pertaining to orphanhood. Over 13 million students rely on the FAFSA form to determine their eligibility for federal, state, and institutional aid. These applications amount to over $120 billion in aid being distributed to students in need via grants, low-interest loans, and work-study programs. Indeed, FAFSA has increased access to higher education, with an estimated 70 percent of undergraduates filing a FAFSA application, yet many barriers continue to exist for those from traditionally underprivileged and marginalized backgrounds. As data reveal, when these demographic factors intersect with the hardships inherent to parental bereavement, it is a recipe for disaster.
As access to higher education continues to expand, it is critical to consider the ways parental bereavement impacts students. Bereavement—or the loss of a loved one by death—is one of the most traumatic stressors a person endures, and evidence from American institutions of higher learning show as many as 30-40 percent of undergraduate students are within the first year of grieving the loss of a close friend or family member, with nearly half being within merely two years of experiencing a significant loss. Scholars in this area have referred to college student bereavement as a “silent epidemic” that negatively impacts students socially, academically, and developmentally.
Evermore Submits Letter to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality
May 2023
Bereavement — a loss of a person through death — is increasingly a direct concern for millions in America, making the need for an organized, coordinated, and evidence-based approach both urgent and necessary. In AHRQ’s development of bereavement care standards, there are five considerations that are important to consider:
- Bereavement is a vast but nascent field of care with multi-layered complexity that cannot be distilled into one quality measure or exercise.
- Effective bereavement screenings and interventions may diminish the bereft’s susceptibility to public emergencies.
- Limitations of current professional practice standards hamper the delivery of consistent, quality bereavement care.
- Future reimbursement payment structures should support and promote qualified bereavement care and bereavement care systems outside the medical-industrial complex.
- A multi-disciplinary expert panel should be convened to develop and review AHRQ’s proposed Key Questions and PICOTs.
Evermore Submits Letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Updating the Funeral Rule
January 2023
Throughout most of the United States, funeral homes are not required to publicly display their pricing information on goods and services. Evermore believes that access to clear, transparent, conspicuous, non-misleading information about funeral goods and services is financially and emotionally imperative for grieving families. We applaud the Federal Trade Commission for its unanimous decision to reexamine and update the Funeral Rule that currently does not require this disclosure.
The Commission’s examination is timely, as millions of people in America have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent mortality epidemics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3.4 million people died in the United States in 2021 — 80,000 more than in 2020. This means more than 3 million families in America sought funeral, burial, or cremation services in 2021. The new rule under examination by the FTC would enact systemic changes to the funeral industry that have the potential to impact every person living in America at one or more points in their lives.
In 2011, an undercover FTC investigation in nine states found “significant violations” in 23 funeral homes. In 2015 and 2016, an undercover FTC investigation in nine states found “failure to disclose pricing information to consumers” in 31 funeral homes. In 2017, an undercover FTC investigation in 11 states found “failures to disclose pricing information” in 29 funeral homes. Likewise, other investigations have found similar industry practices.
Evermore Builds the Advancing Bereavement Care Coalition and Sends Letter to U.S. Senate Finance Committee
September 2021
The Advancing Bereavement Care Coalition (ABCC) represents millions of bereaved Americans and is composed of twenty of the nation’s thought leaders in bereavement and grief care. On Labor Day and on behalf of millions of bereaved Americans, we encourage you to include five days of paid bereavement leave in the FY22 budget reconciliation, our nation’s first federal job and wage protection for newly bereaved individuals.
Evermore Submits Letter to Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Crapo Advocating for Job and Wage Protections for Newly Bereaved Americans
On behalf of millions of bereaved Americans, we encourage you to include bereavement leave in the FY22 budget reconciliation framework, our nation’s first federal job protection for newly bereaved individuals.
Today, bereavement is not acceptable grounds for taking unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, except for miscarriage or stillbirth losses or when a soldier is killed in action. Employees who need time off from work to grieve and cope with the death of a loved one have no legal right to take leave, with narrow exceptions in two states and two localities. While many employers offer bereavement leave, a stark disparity exists between those who are in the highest and lowest income brackets.
Evermore Submits Outside Witness Testimony to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
June 2021
Chairwoman Murray, Ranking Member Blunt, and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony pertaining to fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Your leadership has resulted in major advances in the health and wellbeing of Americans, as well as ensuring that our taxpayer dollars are appropriated to our nation’s most pressing health and human needs.
I submit this testimony on behalf of Evermore, a nonprofit dedicated to making the world a more livable place for bereaved families by raising awareness of the consequences and implications of bereavement for society, advancing sound research that drives policy and program investments, and advocating on behalf of bereaved families for whom very limited legal protections are available in the aftermath. The purpose of my testimony today is to alert you to an emerging public health concern–bereavement–and its impact on millions of families throughout the nation. Bereavement shares a powerful intersectionality with multiple national public health emergencies, including COVID-19, overdose, homicide, and suicide. As such, bereavement plays a key gatekeeping role in determining whether we as a nation can turn the corner on these ongoing public health crises towards national recovery and wellbeing. This watershed moment offers us a rare opportunity to effect long-needed and long-awaited systemic changes.
Coalition Letter to U.S. President Joe Biden
June 2021
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for your service and leadership to our country.
On behalf of bereaved families throughout America, we request you safeguard American families by including bereavement leave as part of your agenda to expand family leave benefits and protections.
As the nation confronts concurrent mortality tragedies, employment protection for the newly bereaved has never been more important. Bereavement leave is job protection and millions of Americans who have lost a loved one have no legal right to take leave, with narrow exceptions in two states and two localities. Currently, bereavement is not acceptable grounds for taking unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, except for miscarriage or stillbirth losses or when a solider is killed in action. This chasm not only leaves millions of Americans at risk for losing their job, but also can be a precipitating event that can send an individual or family into poverty, homelessness and other dire outcomes that can alter a person’s life trajectory permanently.
Employers Should Have Clear, Written Bereavement Leave Benefit Policies
July 2020
The unexpected death of a loved one is the most common traumatic experience Americans report, many report their loss as their worst life experience. Employees who need time off from work to grieve and cope with the death of a loved one have no legal right to take leave, with narrow exceptions in two states and two localities. Bereavement is not acceptable grounds for taking unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, despite recent efforts to add bereavement to this law. While many employers offer bereavement leave, it is often only a few days, which is insufficient time for most employees to return to work and productivity after the death of a family member.
As our nation faces the coronavirus pandemic, drug overdoses, suicide and mass gun violence events, employers are forced to acknowledge bereavement and its implications for families, while staying solvent and productive. It is a difficult balance for employers to strike. To address these needs and set national standards, Evermore recommends employers institute a bereavement leave benefit (note: not to be confused with sick leave):
Employers Bereavement Guidelines
- Employers with five or more employees should have clear, written bereavement leave benefit policies in employee handbooks or outlined in similar guidance.
- Small employers (fewer than 50 employees) should offer five days of unpaid leave to bereaved employees following the death of a close family member; thereby, permitting individuals to return to work at the conclusion of the five-day unpaid, leave period.
- Mid-sized employers (between 50 and 499 employees) should offer five days of paid leave following the death of a close family member and employees should have the option of two additional weeks of unpaid bereavement leave; thereby, permitting individuals to return to work at the conclusion of the 15-day leave period.
- Large employers (more than 500 employees) should offer ten days of paid leave following the death of a close family member and employees should have the option of two additional weeks of unpaid bereavement leave; thereby, permitting individuals to return to work at the conclusion of the 20-day leave period.
Help Bereaved Mothers and Babies Receive Bereavement Care
June 2020
Want to help bereaved mothers and children, here’s what you can do:
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau Title V block grant is one of our nation’s most significant investments in health and wellbeing. The $6.5 billion program reaches every state and jurisdiction in the nation touching an estimated 55 million people, including pregnant women, infants, children and children with disabilities. Nearly every infant and mother benefits from the program, while more than half of all American children are helped. Want to help bereaved mothers and children, here’s what you can do:
Evermore Submits Letter to American Psychiatric Association Supporting Amendments to Prolonged Grief Disorder for Children and Adolescents
May 2020
The unexpected or untimely death of a loved one is the most common traumatic life event touching Americans; many of them ranking it the worst event of their lives. Today, an estimated ten million children have experienced these uniquely devastating losses. Grief itself is an individual and iterative process. It is an exogenous shock that irrevocably alters lifelong health development pathways alongside other social and economic aspects of our lives. While the decision to pathologize grief is one of the most controversial and polarizing topics among leading bereavement professionals, we know that the planning, delivery, and reimbursement of appropriate treatment and care requires the identification and diagnosis of real conditions. When it comes to bereavement, many of today’s debates overlook one essential and often invisible demographic: minority and impoverished children.
Death and bereavement disproportionately impact communities of color, thereby widening and exacerbating the health and health care disparities that marginalize our nation’s most vulnerable children. Given the limited resource allocations devoted to these communities, Evermore:
(1) Strongly endorses the prolonged grief disorder (PGD) amendments proposed by Drs. Christopher Layne, Benjamin Oosterhoff, Robert Pynoos and Julie Kaplow for children and adolescents,
(2) Strongly encourages the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to adopt the proposed modification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5-TR, and
(3) Strongly encourages APA to prioritize bereavement education among our nation’s mental health workforce, especially those working with children, youth, and families.
Evermore Outside Witness Testimony for the Record to U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
May 2020
Bereavement care is an essential element to any comprehensive public health strategy. Our families require more support, practitioners require more tools and resources, and we must understand more about bereavement. Research not only saves lives, but drives innovation.
Rigorous population-level studies, examining the health behaviors and outcomes of millions of people, have concluded that bereaved parents, siblings, children and spouses are all at risk of premature death as a result of such loss. This is just the tip of the iceberg: bereavement is an underlying driver of the poor health undermining our nation’s health care and social services systems.
Consider the following: Today, ten million American children are bereaved, with two million having lost a parent and a projected eight million having lost a sibling. These uniquely devastating losses alter the lifetime success of these youth. Nearly 90 percent of detained youth have experienced the death of a close loved one and 25 percent subsequently joined a gang. Research studies have found that “bereaved children experience lower self-esteem, reduced resilience, lower grades and more school failures, heightened risk of depression, suicide attempts, suicide, and premature death due to any cause, drug abuse, violent crime involvement, youth delinquency, and a greater number of, and more severe, psychiatric difficulties.”
If this does not cause alarm and encourage leadership, what will?
Congress Should Amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to Make Child Death a Qualifying Reason for Leave and Job Protection
January 2020
To date, an estimated 20 million Americans have experienced the death of a child. According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Studies continue to provide evidence that the greatest stress, and often the most enduring one, occurs for parents who experience the death of a child.” This stress produces untold health, social and economic impacts.
Unfortunately, few supports exist to help grieving parents remain solvent and productive. In most cities and states, employees have no legal protections if they need to take leave following the death of a child. The exact number of employers that offer bereavement leave is not known; in most cases, however, only three days of paid leave are allowed.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act is an appropriate public policy tool to afford some protections to families experiencing the loss of a child. Passage of the Parental Bereavement Act (H.R. 983/S. 559) is advocated to make the death of a son or daughter a qualifying reason for leave under FMLA. The legislation will likely be reintroduced in 2020.
