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The proportion of orphaned children in France is relatively high but to date, research on this topic has been scarce. In this theoretical paper, we present the idea that such children’s needs may be neglected, especially with respect to their need for the psychological availability of a trusted adult. This neglect would arise from circumstances surrounding families mourning the death of a parent rather than from parental characteristics as such. Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystemic model of child development, we show that the risk of neglect stems from different reasons at almost every level from ontosystem to macrosystem. We conclude by introducing some promising avenues both for future research and for community-level interventions for orphaned children.