A Resource Funeral Directors Should Know: TAPS

Every once in a while, you come across an organization and wonder why more people in funeral service do not know about it.

That was my feeling after learning more about the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, better known as TAPS.

TAPS was founded in 1994 by Bonnie Carroll after the death of her husband, Brigadier General Tom Carroll, who was killed in a military plane crash in Alaska along with seven other soldiers. Out of her own loss, Bonnie built something that now reaches grieving military and veteran families across the country.

And this is not a small need.

In 2025, TAPS welcomed 9,500 new survivors, reaching military spouses, parents, children, siblings, family members, and friends grieving the loss of someone who served. Through Good Grief Camps, Family Camps, seminars, and a 24/7 Helpline, TAPS continues to provide support at each step of the grief journey. 

As funeral directors, we know that death does not end when the service is over. Families go home to an empty chair, unanswered questions, financial decisions, legal paperwork, children who are confused, and grief that shows up in ways they did not expect.

For military families, that can be even more complicated.

There are benefits to navigate. There are duty status questions. There are survivor resources. There are emotional layers that come with military service, trauma, suicide loss, and young families being forced into a life they did not plan for.

That is where TAPS steps in.

They provide peer-based emotional support, casework assistance, grief and trauma resources, community connections, youth programs, Good Grief Camps, survivor seminars, and a 24/7 National Military Survivor Helpline. Their work is practical and human. It is not just a brochure handed to a family. It is someone saying, “You are not alone, and we know how to help.”

I think that matters for funeral homes.

If you are serving a family who lost a military or veteran loved one, TAPS should be part of the conversation. Not as a replacement for what you do, but as an extension of care after the funeral home’s formal role begins to wind down.

We talk a lot in funeral service about being a resource to families. This is one of those moments where that statement has to mean something.

The family may not know TAPS exists. Your staff may not know either. But one simple referral could connect a surviving spouse, parent, child, sibling, or friend to people who understand their grief in a very specific way.

Bonnie Carroll took tragedy and built a lifeline for others. That kind of work deserves our attention.

As funeral professionals, we do not have to have every answer. But we should know where to send families when they need more support than we can provide. For military survivors, TAPS is one of those places.