Financing & Planning A Burial, Cremation, or Funeral

· Finances,Funerals

Whether you choose to bury or cremate your child, it's a terrible decision to have to make. I am so sorry you are here having to make that. But I hope the below resources can be of help to you during this journey.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS & RESOURCES

Finding a funeral home/crematory (North & South Carolina) - We created a large map & list of funeral homes and crematories in NC & SC, click here

EverLoved - provides online resources for planning and affording a funeral, creating a memorial website and obituary, as well as shopping for urns and caskets. If you want to take the process into your own hands from start to finish, you might find this helpful.

Cake - an end-of-life platform, offers additional resources that you can check out on their website. There are resources for every age and stage of life, including grandparents of a child or miscarriage loss.

Music - we've shared the playlist of music that was used at Gemma's funeral for you to use at your baby's funeral if you would like. It's soft, sweet, and perfect for a precious baby without being overly sad. Many of the songs were written by bereaved mothers who used music to heal their hearts.

 

FINANCES

Start a GoFundMe - My boss hosted a GoFundMe for my family after Gemma died to help offset the costs we were going to incur. They raised $2.2K from coworkers, which was exactly how much our labor and delivery bill ended up being. We are forever grateful for this, and we strongly suggest going this route if you have a large support group but they live farther away to help with physical needs.

Madelyn's Fund (Charlotte, NC) - If you have contact with a NICU social worker through Levine Children's Hospital or Novant Health Hemby Children's Hospital you can request an application to Madelyn's Fund. An amazing organization that helps provide financal and material assistance to families who have lost a child or have baby in the NICU.

Cremation - Often free of charge to infants less than one year old, but this varies. If you delivered at a hospital or the baby was in the NICU sometimes the hospitals offer crematory services for a small fee and you can pick up the ashes. If your child was able to be an organ donor this might be required by the hospital, but it varies.

Burials (Cornelius, NC) - Mount Zion United Methodist Church offers free burial plots for infants. You do not need to be a member of the church.