On April 5, 2025, The Washington Post published the story of Autumn Bushman, a 10-year-old girl from Virginia who died by suicide. Her parents' account is heartbreaking: She was a kind, thoughtful child who loved playing piano and being creative, but who struggled quietly under the weight of bullying and internal emotional distress.

Autumn’s story is devastating—but it is not rare.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is a leading cause of death among children ages 10 to 14. Between 2010 and 2020, the suicide rate in this age group nearly tripled.¹ Rates are rising particularly quickly among girls, children of color, and LGBTQ youth. While suicide under the age of 12 is often described as statistically rare, what’s rare is our willingness to talk about it.

We remain deeply uncomfortable confronting the emotional realities of children. Conversations about suicide in young kids are still taboo, often dismissed with phrases like “too young to understand” or “just a phase.” But children do understand pain. And more often than not, they suffer in silence—because the adults around them aren’t equipped to help.

Children who die by suicide often experience multiple, compounding stressors: bullying, social exclusion, family instability,

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