American and Iraqi clinicians have been working for five years to address the needs of families affected by combat and war. These case presentations reflect the compelling dilemmas of a generation of children whose lives have been affected by these events. Participants learn to understand the cumulative effect of multi-generation parental combat exposure, to recognize the role grief may take in children’s responses to the injuries or death of a parent, and to identify presenting behaviors or moods as responses to these traumatic events. The cases reveal the complexity of responses as children struggle to grieve, understand, and cope. The clinicians discuss how having a system that can assess and plan intervention is a fundamental component for helping these children, and their families, resume a developmental trajectory that can attempt to integrate these overwhelming experiences and move forward with hope.

Sponsored by the AACAP Disaster and Trauma Issues Committee and International Relations Committee and Military Issues Committee