Collect and publish data on how many children lose a parent to suicide

A 2010 study by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center found that those who lose a parent to suicide in childhood are twice as likely to be hospitalised due to depression, and three times as likely to also take their own lives compared to the wider population. To break this chain of poor mental health and increased suicide risk in those who experience parental suicide, the Government urgently needs to quantify the scale of the need. This could inform improvements to the way children left behind are taken care of. These vulnerable children need to be counted and supported.