Little Ripples – Support for children when a loved one has cancer

22 September 2026 — lia-rogers

You have a cancer diagnosis. There is support for you. But what about your children?

By Keri Bird, Founder and Volunteer CEO, Little Ripples

When you receive a cancer diagnosis, the support available to you has come a long way. There are incredible charities, helplines, online communities, and clinical teams working hard to make sure you are not alone.

But when it comes to supporting the children in your family, most parents are left to figure it out alone. Not because they are not trying. Because the structured support simply does not exist in the way it should.

I know this all too well. Last year, I navigated a cancer diagnosis while parenting two school-aged children. During that time, I became very aware of how little structured support existed specifically for them. As a parent, you want to protect your children. You want them to have magical childhoods. For me, a big part of facing my diagnosis, was facing the fact I may traumatise my children through the very unexpected road that lay ahead. I looked for support. What I needed was not there.

That experience is what led me to found Little Ripples. I know what it is to be told you have cancer. To sit in appointments where the words are still ringing in your ears, and then go home and make dinner. To do bath time, read a story, turn the light off, and hold it together until the door is closed. To open your eyes after a night of not sleeping, processing what you have just been told, and think: how do I get up and do the breakfast and school run?

But you do. Because as a parent, you have to continue.

My children kept me going on the days I did not think I could. Not because I had the right professional support around me. Because I had no choice. And I will not pretend I am not biased, but they are incredible human beings.

No family should have to navigate this alone. That is why Little Ripples exists.

The gap is real

In England, there were more than 354,000 new cancer diagnoses in 2023 (NHS England, 2023). A significant proportion of those people are parents. But we do not routinely collect data on how many of them have dependent children at home. That absence of data is itself part of the problem. Children affected by a loved one’s cancer are not just undersupported. In many ways, they are uncounted, and invisible to the very systems that should be supporting them.

Research tells us that children with a parent affected by cancer are at higher risk of emotional and behavioural difficulties. The disruption to daily routines, the shift in family roles, financial pressures, and reduced emotional availability from parents all contribute to this. If these difficulties go unaddressed, they can persist into adulthood.

Children are not passive bystanders in a family cancer experience. They feel it. Many take on extra responsibilities at home. Some become reluctant to share how they are feeling, out of fear of upsetting the adults around them. Research has found that children often sense something is wrong before they are told, and that not being included early can lead to increased anxiety.

Children told researchers they wanted honest information, delivered in a way appropriate for their age. They wanted to feel included, not protected from the truth.

And yet, the support available to meet this need in England remains limited.

Every family is different

There is no single right way to navigate cancer as a family. Every child is different. Every family structure, cultural background, and set of circumstances is unique.

It is also important to say that Little Ripples is not only for families where a parent has cancer. A grandparent, aunt, uncle, or close family friend can be just as central to a child’s world. In many families, grandparents play a primary caregiving role, and a cancer diagnosis in that grandparent can be just as destabilising for a child as any other. We recognise that cancer anywhere in a child’s close network can have a profound impact, and our work reflects that.

Some families talk openly about illness. Others find it harder, and that is not a failure. Research has found that in the UK, around 29% of people avoid saying the word cancer altogether (Macmillan Cancer Support/Humankind Research, 2023). Language, culture, faith, and family values all shape how illness is talked about, and any support for children and families has to reflect that.

Little Ripples is not here to tell families what to do. Our ethos is “your family, your way.” Our role is to provide information, support, and opportunities so that children and the adults around them can make informed choices that feel right for them.

What Little Ripples is building

Little Ripples was registered as a charity in June 2026 (Charity No. 1218526). We are in the early stages of our journey, but our direction is clear.

We are developing accessible resources for children and young people, support for the families around them, and training for schools and professionals who work with children affected by cancer. We are also building a Family Experience Panel, so that the voices of young people, parents, carers, and family members with lived experience remain central to everything we create.

Everything we build will be shaped by the people who need it most.

If you are reading this as a parent or carer

You are already doing something incredibly hard. Managing your own diagnosis, treatment, or recovery while trying to protect and support the children in your family takes a kind of strength that is difficult to describe.

Children do not need you to have all the answers. They need to feel seen, included, and supported.

If you are wondering whether there is support out there for your children, that question alone tells you something important. It tells you that you are thinking about them, even in the middle of everything else.

Little Ripples exists because that question deserves a better answer than it currently has.

We are just getting started, and we would love you to be part of what we are building. You can follow our journey at www.littleripplesuk.org.uk or find us on social media at @littleripplesuk.