Mourning is an open expression of your thoughts and feelings after the loss of your baby. It is an essential part of healing. You are beginning a journey that is often frightening, painful, overwhelming and sometimes lonely. At this time you will be asked to make many decisions. A caregiver will help by explaining the options available to you. Among these, you will have to make final decisions about how your baby will be laid to rest. The first decision parents must make when deciding "how to lay their baby to rest" is whether they feel comfortable with the idea of cremation.
Within Beaumont Health, you may choose the Infant Memorial Garden program. This program offers a free memorialization option to parents who have experienced stillbirth, pregnancy loss or neonatal death. When parents choose the Infant Memorial Garden program, there is a 2-4 week waiting period before your baby is released from the hospital. During this time, your child remains under the care of the hospital where you delivered. If at anytime you become concerned about your baby, call the labor and delivery department. They will direct you with whom to speak with.
In the Infant Memorial Garden Program, a compartmentalized form of cremation is used. If you choose this option, your baby will be cremated in a divided tray, separated from other babies. The baby's cremains will then be individually wrapped and transported to the cemetery.
At this point you have the option of taking your infant's remains home in an individualized urn or placing them in the Infant Memorial Garden. If the garden is chosen, cemetery staff will place the babies cremains in the appropriate community urn by dates. Beaumont's Infant Memorial Garden contains three columbaria and is located at Cadillac Memorial Garden West Cemetery. You may visit the cemetery at any time, and staff can direct you to the Garden of Prayer, where the Infant Memorial Garden is located. You can find where your baby's remains are by looking at the dates on each niche face, located on the columbaria.
You may also choose an individual cremation for your baby. This option includes having your child privately cremated. There is a cost for this service. Your child could then be returned for you to take home or could be placed in a columbaria with Beaumont's Infant Memorial Garden. See the list of options below for more details.
Infant Memorial Garden options
Option 1
Community Inurnment
This option includes compartmentalized cremation, placement of the contained ashes in a community urn (more than one infant's remains are in the urn, each one individually contained) and placement of the community urn in a community niche (three urns per niche).
The dates of the month, for example, Jan.-March 2003, will appear on the niche face. This option is available to all families at no charge. In addition, families are able to obtain their ashes from the garden at a later date, no charge, should life circumstances change.
Option 2
Community Inurnment and Memorialization - This option includes option 1 plus purchase, by the family, of a solid bronze plate to be installed on the memorial wall. Please note that only one person's name can appear per plate. (For example: Timothy Jones). The cost of this option is $200 plus tax.
Option 3
Private Inurnment and Receipt of Infant's Remains - This option includes compartmentalized cremation plus individual (by themselves) inurnment. Parents may then receive their infant's remains. This option is available at no charge.
Option 4
Private Inurnment and Semi-Private Niche Space - This option includes compartmentalized cremation plus purchase, by the family, of individual inurnment and placement within a semi-private niche space. Three infants' remains are placed whichin each private niche space. The full name and dates (in your choice of two lettering options) are placed in raised bronze lettering on the outside of the niche. The cost of this option is $400, plus tax.
Option 5
Private Inurnment and Purchase of the Entire Niche
At certain times, an option such as this one may be desired, as in the case of multiple losses. It is not, however, the focus of the Infant Memorial Garden.
With this option, compartmentalized cremation occurs along with individual inurnment. Families may then purchase an entire niche space. The full names and dates, as in option 1, are then placed in raised bronze letting on the outside of the niche (two lines per child). Up to six lines total can be inscribed on the outside of the niche. The cost of this option (i.e., the purchase of three private niche spaces) is $1,200, plus tax.