Children bereaved by homicide: what the evidence shows

Most countries do not count the children whose parent is killed. The few that do find them year after year: in France, 114 children were left without a mother, a father or both after killings by a partner or former partner in 2023 alone^[1]. Where researchers have looked closely, as in the Netherlands, most of these children had already lived with violence at home, many were nearby when it happened, and the support they get afterwards depends heavily on where they live.

When a parent is killed, a child loses them suddenly, and because of another person’s act. When the killing happens inside the family, most often a mother killed by the child’s father or by her partner, a child can in effect lose both parents at once. They may also lose their home and school within days, while inquiries and trials go on for years. This study sets out what the evidence worldwide shows about how many children are bereaved by homicide, what they have been through and what support exists. It gives no detail of any individual case.

The killings are counted; the children left behind mostly are not

Homicide statistics describe the person who died, not who they were raising. Worldwide, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women estimate that about 51,100 women and girls were killed by an intimate partner or another family member in 2023: 60% of the almost 85,000 women and girls killed intentionally that year, or an average of 140 a day^[4]. These are modelled estimates, and the agencies warn that the number of countries reporting such killings halved between 2020 and 2023^[4]. By contrast, 12% of male homicide victims in 2023 were killed by a partner or relative^[4]. None of these figures say how many of the people killed were parents of children under 18.

National statistics usually stop at the same point. In England and Wales, the Office for National Statistics recorded 111 domestic homicides in the year to March 2025, 75 of the victims women and 36 men, and 67 people killed by a partner or former partner^[5]. It does not publish how many children these deaths bereaved. Researchers studying the UK and Ireland note that in domestic homicide reviews “the age, sex and ethnicity of children is not systematically recorded”^[6]. For the wider picture of what is and is not counted about bereaved children, see the data gaps study.

A handful of countries count them, and the numbers recur every year

A few countries count these children directly, and their figures recur year after year. France’s Interior Ministry reviews every killing within a couple each year. In 2023 it recorded 96 women and 23 men killed by a partner or former partner, and 114 children who were left without a father, a mother or both as a result^[1]. Spain keeps an official running count of children whose mother was killed in gender-based violence, which in Spanish law means violence by a partner or former partner: 539 since 2013^[2].

In the Netherlands, researchers combined eight national data sources to find every child whose parent was killed in an intimate partner homicide between 2003 and 2012: 256 children, from 137 killings^[3]. In Italy, a study that compiled cases from online searches counted 319 killings of women between January 2012 and October 2014, which left 417 children, 180 of them under 18^[7].

These figures are not comparable: years, definitions and methods differ. Each is a floor: none sets out to count every child whose parent was killed, whoever the killer was. No country we could find publishes an annual count of all children bereaved by homicide of any kind.

Homicide takes a larger share of parents than of adult deaths overall

The United States has no direct count, but researchers have modelled one from death and birth registrations. In 2021, homicide accounted for an estimated 3.7% of new cases of children losing a parent, although it made up only 0.7% of adult deaths^[8]. The same gap appears for unintentional injuries and drug overdoses (chart below). The authors note that for communities with many non-Hispanic Black fathers, homicide was a leading cause of children losing a parent, and they call for more intensive support for children bereaved by deaths that carry stigma, including homicide^[8].

Surveys of young people widen the lens beyond parents. In the US National Surveys of Children’s Exposure to Violence (2008, 2011 and 2014, pooled sample of 11,771 children aged 2 to 17), about 8% had had a family member or friend killed^[9]. Older adolescents, Black children, children in lower socioeconomic status households and those living in large cities were overrepresented^[9]. In the 2005 US National Survey of Adolescents (3,614 young people aged 12 to 17), 9% reported that a loved one had been killed in a criminal homicide^[10]. These surveys count any loved one, not only parents.

A newer study of Michigan death and birth certificates for 2009–2023 found 4,243 children whose parent died by homicide. Forty-five of them died before 18, a rate the authors put at 106 per 10,000, against a crude rate of 5.22 per 10,000 among all Michigan children^[11]. This is a crude comparison that did not identify how the children died, and the authors say it “does not establish causation”^[11]. It is a signal for research and safeguarding, not a measure of any child’s risk.

Many children had lived with violence before, and many were close by

The Dutch population study is the clearest picture anywhere of who these children are. The 256 children were on average 7.4 years old when their parent was killed, and for 87.1% it was their mother who was killed^[3]. Children from immigrant families were overrepresented, at 59.4%^[3]. Where records of earlier family life were gathered, 67.7% had certainly been exposed to violence, maltreatment or neglect at home before the killing, and a further 16.7% probably had^[3]. Of those certainly exposed, 43.1% had received no social services or mental health care^[3]. And 58.7% of the children were at the location when the killing took place^[3]. In France in 2023, 28 children were present at the scene or in the home^[1].

So a child may be coping with traumatic exposure and earlier fear at home as well as grief, and with the fact that someone they knew, sometimes their other parent, caused the death. A 2015 systematic review of 17 articles (13 independent samples) found children’s outcomes “varied widely”, including post-traumatic stress, attachment difficulties, changes in weight and appetite, and drops in school grades^[12]. Factors that may shape how children fare include whether the child witnessed the killing and how much conflict there was between the two sides of the family^[12]. The review describes the range of outcomes studies have reported, not how common each one is. For mental health after the death of a parent more generally, see the mental health outcomes study.

Dutch researchers also interviewed 23 children and young people who had been under 18 when one parent killed the other. Most were fairly content with themselves and where they lived, but they also described “substantial and persistent difficulties, including distress, conflicts between family members, and feelings of unsafety”^[13]. Their views of their parents and family varied a great deal, even between brothers and sisters. The researchers concluded that simple rules about where children should live, or whether they should have contact with the parent who caused the death, are unlikely to work; children’s own views need careful exploring^[13].

Relatives take children in at the hardest moment, often without help

After a killing within the family, many children need a new home, with relatives or with foster carers. In a Dutch study of 22 caregivers raising 35 children bereaved by parental intimate partner homicide, caregivers described four continuing challenges: bringing the children into the family, dealing with the perpetrator and relatives, “managing underprepared services”, and enduring it all mentally and physically^[14]. The researchers call for respite care, financial and practical help, and long-term, equitable access to support^[14].

Research in the UK and Ireland, interviewing people bereaved in childhood, caregivers and professionals, found the same pressures. Kinship carers needed help with their own grief and financial support for the new caring responsibilities; the authors report that the lack of any financial support for kinship care left “even middle-class families” stretched to the limit^[6]. They also found that “children’s voice was rarely elicited” in the decisions made about them^[6]. A 2026 scoping review of 40 publications identified placement and care, stigma and social reactions, and institutional barriers to support as recurring themes, and concluded that substantial gaps in knowledge remain^[15].

This describes a gap in support, not a failing of the families who step in. For the wider evidence on how a surviving parent or carer’s wellbeing affects children, see the surviving parent study.

Specialist support exists in some places, and evidence on what helps is thin

An international group of 33 researchers, clinicians, policymakers and advocates from 11 countries, meeting in France in 2025, concluded that support for children bereaved by fatal family violence “remains fragmented, inconsistent and largely dependent on local service availability rather than individual needs”^[16]. The UK and Ireland study found no official counselling or therapy geared to children bereaved in this way, and that families seeking help were often refused counselling for the child while the police investigation was ongoing, because children were treated as witnesses rather than as children harmed in their own right^[6].

Some countries are building structured responses. In France, a hospital-based protocol for children after an intimate partner homicide sets out 17 steps for their first 72 hours of care. In its first evaluation, covering 14 children from four killings, 88.6% of the protocol’s criteria were applied, and it has since been extended across France^[17]. Evaluations like this are still rare. A review of interventions for children and adolescents after a family homicide noted how limited the research is and described approaches that “show promise”^[18]. Studies are appearing from more countries, among them one of 57 children and adolescents in Brazil’s Federal District described in the study as orphaned by femicide, in which depressive symptoms were the only significant predictor of health-related quality of life^[19]. For what the wider evidence says helps bereaved children, see what helps bereaved children.

What the evidence asks of us

The evidence is thin, but it points in a consistent direction.

• Count the children. France and Spain show that recording the children left behind by killings within a couple is possible as routine official statistics^[1][2]. Elsewhere, homicide statistics and domestic homicide reviews could record how many children each person killed was raising, and their ages and circumstances^[6].
• Plan for the first days. Children are often present or close by^[3]. A planned response for the first hours and days, like the French 72-hour protocol now extended nationally, gives services a shared starting point^[17].
• Treat children as bereaved and traumatised, not only as witnesses. Support for a child’s grief and trauma should not have to wait for the criminal case to end; UK and Irish families describe exactly that delay^[6].
• Support the carers. Kinship and foster carers need practical help, money, respite and help with their own grief^[6][14].
• Listen to each child. Children’s views of their family differ widely, even between siblings, so decisions about where they live and about contact with the parent who caused the death need their voice^[13].
• Reach children before, too. In the Netherlands, 43.1% of the children known to have lived with violence at home had received no social services or mental health care^[3].
• Fund research and evaluation. Evaluations of support for these children are rare^[18]. The international “Homicide at Home” collaboration aims to pool knowledge across countries^[16].

For the experience of adult relatives bereaved by homicide, including the justice process, see families bereaved by homicide. More studies on children whose parent has died are in the bereaved children research library.

Language: this piece uses plain words such as “died” and “killed” rather than euphemisms, because they are clearer. It uses “orphan” only where that is a source’s own term. It gives no detail of individual cases.

Why we're publishing this

Children bereaved by homicide are few in any one place, so they are easily overlooked in statistics, planning and research. The organisations and carers supporting them need evidence to make the case for specialist help. We have gathered the best we could find from several countries so that it can be cited, and so the gaps are visible. The case is theirs and the children’s; our part is to present the evidence clearly.

How to read this data

The French and Spanish counts are official figures published by government ministries; the Spanish figure is a running total updated with each confirmed case. The Dutch figures come from researchers combining national data sources. The Italian figures were compiled from online searches and depend on what was reported. The global UNODC and UN Women figures are modelled estimates, and so are the US figures on how many children lose a parent to homicide. The US surveys count any loved one killed, not only parents.

None of these figures can be added together or set side by side as a trend: definitions, years and methods differ. Almost all the detailed evidence comes from killings within a couple, and from a small number of high-income countries, mainly the Netherlands, France, the UK and the US. We found very little on children whose parent was killed outside the family, and almost nothing from Africa or Asia, the regions with the largest estimated numbers of women and girls killed by partners or family members^[4]. Interview studies describe experiences in depth but cannot say how common they are.

Use this data

Free to cite with attribution to Understanding Bereavement. Charities, schools, services and journalists are welcome to reuse these figures and charts. For the underlying figures as a spreadsheet, get in touch.

Important: This study summarises published research about groups of people for general information. It is not medical advice or bereavement support, and it cannot describe or predict anything about an individual child or family. If you are worried about a child or about yourself, please speak to a GP or another qualified professional.

Sources

1. Délégation aux victimes, Ministère de l’Intérieur. Chiffres clefs 2023: Étude nationale sur les morts violentes au sein du couple. Government of France (arretonslesviolences.gouv.fr), 2024. arretonslesviolences.gouv.fr/…/Chiffres clefs_Etude nationale morts violentes au sein du couple_2023.pdf
2. Ministerio de Igualdad. Press note with national figures on gender-based violence (women killed and children orphaned, 2026 and since 2013). La Moncloa, Government of Spain, 29 September 2026. lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/igualdad/…
3. Alisic E, Groot A, Snetselaar H, et al. Children bereaved by fatal intimate partner violence: a population-based study into demographics, family characteristics and homicide exposure. PLoS ONE, 2017. europepmc.org/article/MED/28976977
4. UN Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women. Femicides in 2023: Global estimates of intimate partner/family member femicides. UNODC and UN Women, 2024. unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/femicides-in-2023….pdf
5. Office for National Statistics. Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2025. ONS, 2026. ons.gov.uk/…/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2025
6. Kurdi Z, Devaney J, Houghton C, et al. Applying a socio-ecological model to understanding the needs of children and young people bereaved by intimate partner homicide across their life course. Journal of Family Violence, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/42052137
7. Ferrara P, Caporale O, Cutrona C, et al. Femicide and murdered women’s children: which future for these children orphans of a living parent? Italian Journal of Pediatrics, 2015. europepmc.org/article/MED/26416660
8. Villaveces A, Chen Y, Tucker S, et al. Orphanhood and caregiver death among children in the United States by all-cause mortality, 2000–2021. Nature Medicine, 2025. europepmc.org/article/MED/39794613
9. Turner HA, Finkelhor D, Henly M. Exposure to family and friend homicide in a nationally representative sample of youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2021. europepmc.org/article/MED/29998751
10. Rheingold AA, Zinzow H, Hawkins A, et al. Prevalence and mental health outcomes of homicide survivors in a representative US sample of adolescents: data from the 2005 National Survey of Adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2012. europepmc.org/article/MED/22211367
11. McCabe SE, Kcomt L, Evans-Polce RJ, et al. Childhood mortality by parental cause of death. JAMA Network Open, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/41870432
12. Alisic E, Krishna RN, Groot A, Frederick JW. Children’s mental health and well-being after parental intimate partner homicide: a systematic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2015. europepmc.org/article/MED/26487567
13. Alisic E, Groot A, Snetselaar H, et al. Children’s perspectives on life and well-being after parental intimate partner homicide. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2017. europepmc.org/article/MED/29844882
14. Alisic E, Groot A, Snetselaar H, Stroeken T. Raising a child bereaved by domestic homicide: caregivers’ experiences. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2025. europepmc.org/article/MED/39973583
15. Haugen LEA, Hafstad GS. Supporting children after domestic homicide: a scoping review of caregiving and societal responses. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/42339655
16. Horn S, Hafstad G, Molyneaux R, et al. Homicide at home: setting the agenda for an international collaboration to improve support for children bereaved due to family violence. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/42598958
17. Prieto N, Zurcher K, Guyot L, et al. Children co-victims of intimate partner homicide: the first 72 decisive hours. Frontiers in Public Health, 2025. europepmc.org/article/MED/40538688
18. Pastrana FA, Moreland AD, Milman EJ, et al. Interventions for child and adolescent survivors of intrafamilial homicide: a review of the literature. Death Studies, 2022. europepmc.org/article/MED/32807043
19. Fontenele E, Faiad C, Sani AI. Relationship between mental health and health-related quality of life of orphans of femicide. Children (Basel), 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/42650361