Roanoke girl’s suicide sparks calls for kindness – and the need to intervene

Autumn Bushman’s age when she killed herself is unfathomable, gut-wrenching. The Roanoke County girl was just 10 years old, and her parents say she’d been bullied – citing that as a key factor in her death. Unfortunately, Autumn’s death reflects a troubling national trend: Children are taking their own lives more frequently.

Her  March 21 suicide in her own home has caused immeasurable grief for her family, and it has stunned a Southwest Virginia community. The incident, brought to wider attention by The Washington Post, should force all of us to grapple with some disturbing questions:

Are Virginia schools intervening sufficiently when bullying or harassment occurs? Are parents equipped with enough tools to discern normal adolescent angst from something more serious – and potentially fatal? Should parents prevent their children from having smartphones because of the constant bombardment of digital conversations that can be mean-spirited and abrasive?

Autumn had a smartphone, but her parents said they didn’t let her have her own social media accounts. Chuck Lionberger, a county schools spokesman, said in a statement the division encourages “parents to not give students access to smart phones and social media until age 14, to closely monitor online interactions, and to report any bullying concerns to the school so that we can work with parents to intervene.”

He also told me that elementary school students aren’t allowed to have cellphones in school.

The presence of smartphones is a key difference between yesteryear and today. Back then, you could put classroom nonsense and threats behind you when you went home. Today, social media and cellphones make that impossible.

Suicide prevention is a priority for me now

One bittersweet development since Autumn’s death: a call from all quarters for kindness, empathy and understanding. That was the message Sunday at the Berglund Center in Roanoke in a celebration of her life that was dedicated, in part, to squashing bullying; 300 people showed up, a center spokesman said. Folks have bought “Be Kind for Autumn” shirts. A forum April 29 in a neighboring county will focus on bullying.

“It seems like there’s a blind eye” toward the problem, Town of Rocky Mount Mayor Holland Perdue, organizer of the forum, told me. He’s been commenting online about the problem for months, and Perdue said some children in his area are being homeschooled now because of bullying.

The Post reported the family opened up Autumn’s funeral to the wider community and broadcast it live, hoping the fourth-grader’s story might inspire more tolerance. The young girl’s hobbies and extracurriculars included cheerleading, track, dance and archery.

A county police spokeswoman said last week the investigation of Autumn’s death is still active, pending the medical examiner’s report. Police also took her smartphone. 

“Police may examine devices to piece together the events leading up to a death,” Amy Whittaker told me by email.

Kids who are bullied are at risk of suicide, but bullying alone is not the cause, according to the government website Stopbullying.gov. “Many issues contribute to suicide risk, including depression, problems at home, and trauma history,” it said.

Yet federal statistics show suicidal thoughts among adolescents have worsened over the period from 2013 to 2023. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing a national youth risk survey released last year, said 19% of children in 2023 reported being bullied at school during the past year.

The survey found that in 2023, 16% of students made a suicide plan and 9% attempted suicide. Those numbers were slightly higher than in 2013.

I reached out to health care officials at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, which operates Children’s Pavilion. That facility, which opened in 2022, provides inpatient pediatric mental health treatment and related services.

Dr. John Fanton, child and adolescent psychiatrist, noted that evaluating mental health illnesses has “come a long way, and we’re doing much more now in terms of screening and educating” and alerting families about risks.

Decades of national suicide prevention policies haven’t slowed the deaths

However, “the science has not evolved to the level where we can do 100% screening 100%  of the time,” Fanton added. “There’s no app, no equivalent of a stress test” that indicates what risk category a child will be in up to a year from now.

Parents should monitor their children’s mood, sleep patterns and changes in eating habits to consider whether something is hugely awry, said Stephanie Osler, director of mental health hospital support.

“If you see sudden changes, as a parent, you need to be vigilant,” added Osler, a licensed clinical social worker. Some changes in behavior might be normal. “But if they’re missing out on things, their grades are dropping, and they’re not as engaged on things they enjoy,” those are red flags, she said.

Both officials lead the mental health emergency department assessment team. They noted the arrival of smartphones and social media have made it tougher for children to distance themselves from external criticism – some of it especially harsh and cruel.

Autumn’s parents, Mark and Summer Bushman, as well as other parents and students in her school division, have questioned whether Roanoke County Public Schools handle complaints about bullying properly, and if the penalties go far enough. The current policy was discussed last week during a county school board meeting.

Summer told The Post she contacted her daughter’s school, Mountain View Elementary, early on to report concerning behavior. But, she said, she never received a clear explanation — only that the situation had been “handled.”

Mark, in another report, said, “As far as we know, what we were told – at least by our daughter – was that (the bullying) kept happening.”  

The division, in a statement spokesman Lionberger emailed to me, says it takes “all reports of bullying and conflicts among students very seriously. Our schools educate students and respond appropriately to specific situations when we are made aware, including working with parents and families of students involved.” He said federal privacy laws prevented him from discussing the specifics of Autumn’s case.

At the School Board meeting, when a division official noted the schools must legally notify parents about bullying accusations, Summer Bushman blurted out: “I was never notified. … My daughter is dead!” 

Lionberger told me later he couldn’t discuss that allegation, again citing federal privacy laws.

Since the 2022-23 school year, he said, the division had collected 72 bullying incidents without injuries, and none with injuries. It had tallied eight complaints of cyberbullying. There were three repeat bullying complaints.

Suicides among Autumn’s age group are low in the commonwealth, but still dispiriting. For ages 8-12, the Virginia Department of Health reported six deaths in 2022, one in 2023 and two in 2024, a spokeswoman said.

Nationally, though, the story has been shocking. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found rates of suicide in the 8-12 age group have been increasing by approximately 8% annually since 2008, the institute said last year.

NIH noted the overall numbers remain low.

Autumn’s death is a wake-up call. Ask your own children questions about their emotional state. Stay involved with them. Consult counselors and psychiatrists. Know the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Make all of that Autumn’s legacy.

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org