When Your Child Has Died Abroad

UK Helpline: 0345 123 2304 | www.tcf.org.uk 13 traditional British culture. In some countries, doctors or officials will expect to only speak directly with the father or other male relatives, not even with the mother. You might need to stand your ground, politely but firmly affirming your own wishes. • Post-death procedures: These might be different to what you expect. For instance, post-mortems might not be the norm, even in cases of unexpected death, and not all countries hold inquests. There may be few pathologists. Embalming (which is necessary to repatriate the body, see below) might also be uncommon. The death certificate Your child’s death certificate remains of that country in which they died. It is helpful to ask for extra copies of the death certificate to send to authorities once you are back home. You may need to arrange for a translation. Funeral arrangements and repatriation You may wish to repatriate your child’s body, or you may arrange for their burial or cremation in the country where they died. You will need to contact an international funeral director in the first instance. The FDCO website has a list of international funeral directors in the UK as well as funeral directors in individual countries. See: https://bit.ly/UKfuneraldirectors If you are planning a repatriation , most international funeral directors will have a partnered local funeral director and will be able to assist in making arrangements abroad as well as for the return to the UK. Plans for a funeral in the UK cannot be finalised until your child’s body has been repatriated and then released by the coroner, who is informed as a matter of course. If you are planning a cremation in the country where your child has died then you will need to appoint a local funeral director.