Rafko is the Executive Director of Gabby's Ladder, a bereavement program for children and their families, an organisation she founded after the death of her fourth child.

"There were no bereavement programs for donor families," she said.

The bereavement program for children just seemed a natural outgrowth.

Mr. Mize said that Oklahoma City volunteers have identified 75 bereavement programs in the Northeast that are helping the families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attack.

In that job, he coordinated anti-abortion activities for Cardinal John O'Connor but also oversaw marriage preparation, parenthood and natural family planning classes and bereavement programs.

Some, like Camp Sunshine, which is holding a special session this week for the relatives of victims of the terror attacks, have built-in bereavement programs.

Learning that Nadia had recently lost her mother, the Jewish Board arranged for the grandmother and child to attend a bereavement program where they received group counseling.

The bereavement program is highly specific as well, Ms. Conway said.

Perinatal bereavement programs exist at many New York hospitals.

She said she saw almost an immediate improvement in the students in the first bereavement program.