Support and Resources for Families Surviving the Murder of a Child

A home for families carrying violent loss

No parent should have to learn court dates, victim-impact statements, trauma symptoms, and memorial planning while still trying to breathe through the first weeks after a child has been murdered. Yet many do. Lynn Shiner and Nancy Chavez built this site from that hard ground: two mothers, three murdered children, and a refusal to let grief have the final word.

The work here starts with lived experience, then widens into practical support.

Some visitors arrive because they want to understand Stabbed in the Heart: Three Murdered Children, Two Resilient Mothers. Others come after a recent homicide, searching at midnight for words that do not minimize what happened. Victim-services professionals come for clearer language and survivor-centered context. The door stays open to all of them.

The book that anchors the work

Stabbed in the Heart is not treated here as a product on a shelf. It is the center of a larger conversation about homicide survival, parental grief, and the public systems families must face after violent crime.

Policy language often sounds tidy: restitution, compensation, notification, sentencing, services. Ground-level reality feels different. A mother may sit with a stack of forms on the same table where birthday cards once waited. A father may hear legal terms before anyone asks whether he slept. A sibling may become invisible because adults assume the parents are the only mourners.

The book gives those realities a human voice. The site extends that voice into resources, remembrance, and outreach for people who need more than a single story. From what survivors tell us, they often look for both witness and direction: someone to say, “This happened,” and someone to say, “Here is one place to begin.”

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Readers looking for a closer entry point can begin with reader reviews and testimonials, or see how public conversation around the memoir developed in media coverage of Stabbed in the Heart.

Six doors into support

People rarely arrive with one clean need. A bereaved parent may need a tribute page, a trauma-informed explanation of PTSD, and help understanding victim compensation in the same week.

That is why rjdblessings organizes its work into practical areas instead of asking visitors to know the right professional term before they can find help. The structure gives families, advocates, and community groups several ways in.

The Book

The memoir, its story, excerpts, and ordering information for readers beginning with Lynn and Nancy’s account.

Remembering Our Children

Tributes and memories that keep the children’s names, stories, and legacies present.

Victim Advocacy

Guidance on victim services, reparations, court navigation, and support for families affected by violent crime.

Healing & Resilience

Stories and guidance on grief, trauma recovery, PTSD, and rebuilding life after murder.

Speaking & Outreach

Presentations and community education events that bring survivor wisdom into public settings.

In the News

Media coverage, interviews, reviews, and press connected to the authors and their advocacy work.

The people and practices behind rjdblessings

The site draws on survivor experience, trauma-informed communication, bereavement practice, victim-rights knowledge, and community outreach. No web page can carry the whole weight of a family’s story, so the work here stays careful about tone, privacy, and practical limits.

Behind the scenes, the rjdblessings team reviews content for clarity, dignity, and usefulness to homicide survivors and the professionals who support them.

Support Articles and Reflections