In Today’s Issue:

🔗 The best resources I found this week
📖 Deep dive: When Hospitals and Communities Work Together: Creating Compassionate Options for Fetal Remains

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🔗 The Best Resources I Found This Week

⚖️ Texas HB 635: Parents’ Right to Take Baby Home
Texas remains one of the clearest examples of state law protecting families’ right to take their baby home after death. If your hospital ever says “policy doesn’t allow it,” this law is your reminder that policy can’t override parent rights. (Texas Tribune summary of HB 635)

One Example of Gentle Alternatives in Cremation: If you're exploring partnerships with local funeral homes, Endswell Funeral Home's approach to aquamation (water cremation) for infant and fetal loss shows how some crematoriums are innovating to provide options that return more remains when traditional cremation cannot. (Ends Well Funeral Home)

📖 Deep Dive

When Hospitals and Communities Work Together: Creating Compassionate Options for Fetal Remains

One of the most delicate conversations you'll have as a labor and delivery nurse happens after a baby has died. It's about what comes next—and yes, that includes what happens with the baby's body. The good news? You're not alone in figuring this out. And honestly, there are some incredible examples happening in hospitals right now that show how partnerships and thoughtfulness can transform this experience for families.

Hospital spotlight: The Perfect Example of a Hospital and Community Working Together

Al Petry, BSN, RNC-OB, Perinatal Services Director from Huntsville Memorial Hospital in Texas wrote me last week, and I can’t stop thinking about her story. (shared with permission)

And they've gone even further—they partnered with a nearby church that donated a section of their cemetery specifically for burial of fetal cremains, also at no charge.

It’s such a simple model—but it changes everything.

This partnership didn’t come from a policy meeting. It began with one nurse making a phone call and uniting local businesses and the community to support grieving families.

🕊 How to Start Something Like This in Your Own Community

1. Map Out Your Current Process.
   Ask your pathology and risk management departments exactly how remains under 20 weeks are handled. You can’t fix what you can’t see.

2. Call Your Local Funeral Homes.
   Don’t start with a formal proposal—start with a conversation. Ask, “Would you be willing to help us provide dignified options for families experiencing early loss?”
   Many say yes—they just never knew how to get involved.

3. Look for Churches or Cemeteries with Unused Sections.
   Huntsville’s model works because a church donated space for shared burial. Some hospitals partner with city cemeteries or non-denominational memorial gardens.

4. Create a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
   It doesn’t have to be legal-heavy. One page is enough to clarify: cost, timeline, cremation or burial method, and what families can expect.

5. Document the Process.
   Include the funeral home’s contact info in your bereavement policy and discharge packet. The next time a nurse needs it, she isn’t left scrambling.

Why This Matters So Much

When families learn their baby has died in the hospital, they're in crisis. Everything is disorienting and heartbreaking. And then, amid the overwhelming grief, they have to make decisions about final disposition. These aren't small decisions. They're decisions about how their child is honored and remembered. Your role as the nurse is crucial here—you're the bridge between policy and compassion.​

Research shows that when hospitals offer clear, compassionate disposition options—especially for early losses—families report lower rates of prolonged grief and higher satisfaction with care (Cacciatore et al., Death Studies, 2023).

And here’s the ripple effect:
When the community participates, the hospital’s burden drops—costs, logistics, and emotional strain on staff all decrease.

It’s not just family-centered care. It’s sustainable bereavement care.

💬 The Conversation You Could Start This Week

Here’s your script if you’re ready to begin building partnerships:

Then let silence do its work.
You’ll be surprised who says yes.

👋 That’s a Wrap!

Before you go: Here are ways we can help your hospital

We offer bereavement boxes to give as gifts to those who leave the hospital after a miscarriage, stillborn, or infant death. Reply to this email “Sample” to get a free sample sent to your hospital.

What we prioritize:

1. Tools for hospitals to create a bereavement experience for families to begin their grief journey

2. Educating nurses with modern bereavement standards and continuing education.

3. Helping hospitals build a foundation of trust and support, so bereaved families feel seen and cared for—now and in the years to come.

These boxes were born out of our own personal losses, including Jay’s (CEO) 15 years of experience working in labor and delivery as a CRNA and witnessing time and again how the hospital experience can profoundly shape a family’s grief journey, for better or for worse.

Until next week,

Trina and Jay
Co-founders of Forget Me Not