Enduring the death of your baby is likely the most heart-breaking event a parent and family could ever experience. We want you to know that you are not alone. Your feelings are real. Your baby is real. The love you have for your baby is real. The Haven Network can support you and your family as you grieve the death of your baby.
Directly in the hospital we can serve you by helping you create a peaceful environment in which you can spend quality time making memories with your baby like:
- Bathing and dressing your baby
- Creating a memory box containing: ink hand and foot prints of your baby, clay hand and foot prints, baby book, and so much more
- Providing you clothing, blankets and jewelry for your baby
- Photography
- Funeral home and funeral planning information
Funding is not available through The Haven Network for funeral costs or expenses.
Following your discharge from the hospital, our Director of Family Services will contact you to follow up on any of your needs, answer questions and to be of support to you and your family. You have available to you:
- Spiritual support with our staff chaplain
- Grief Support
- Access to our Gatherings group
- Grief Counseling
- Support through subsequent pregnancies
All services provided by The Haven Network, both at the hospital and after discharge, are provided at no cost.
Photography
Photography is such an important part of the healing process. Pictures confirm that your baby existed and that they are a valued member of your family. It helps you to remember all of the little details that might otherwise fade from memory. Photographs can also be shared with friends and family who didn’t have the opportunity to see your baby in the hospital.We hope that the beautiful portraits taken show that your baby was and always will be an important part of your family and that they were loved.
This our beautiful baby boy Carter Liam Kepner who was born sleeping at 39 weeks on April 30, 2015. The photos that were taken of our precious boy are so beautiful and breath taking. I couldn’t have asked for anything better to honor our baby boy. The photographer was wonderful in working with us. She took beautiful memories that I will have for a lifetime and I am eternally grateful! ~ Lindsey Kepner
Our daughter Eleanna Mae passed away at 20 weeks 5 days gestation on July 16, 2011. We were blessed to have the Haven Network’s skilled photographer come and take the most beautiful pictures of our precious daughter. Having those pictures has helped me though some of my saddest times. Especially the times where I felt as though her life was a beautiful dream that ended in tragedy. Her pictures remind our family each day that Eleanna was here and will be in our hearts forever. Some of the photographs are done in a way that can be displayed in your home, and I even have one at my office without being uncomfortable for others to see. From the pictures I have seen of other families blessed with the Haven Network’s photography they can make even the tiniest babies look peaceful and beautiful. While sometimes it may be sad to look at her pictures; more often to see her fills me with joy knowing I’ll never forget how beautiful her tiny, perfect feet were, or how she had long slender fingers like mine. The support, love & blessings that The Haven Network has given to my husband and I, is an intimate part of our grieving process. We can’t thank them enough for all of it. ~ Rachel Marsh
I had the tragic pleasure of receiving photos from The Haven Network in October when I unexpectedly lost my first and only baby. Had I not lost Aiden I never would have known about this truly caring organization. I was very reluctant to receive photos of this manner but now I’m so thankful I did. They are one of very few memories I will ever have of him.
I would definitely recommend families have photos of their precious babies, especially from The Haven. They are so caring and thoughtful and catch true, raw emotions and beauty.
On January 17, 2013 I had my precious angel Olivia Kathryn Bailey. She had many health problems that became terminal and one day she joined Heaven. After having her, the nurses at Swedish American Hospital had told me about The Haven Network. I had thought about taking pictures after she was born but I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate or not. After they had informed me what The Haven Network was, I was still very unsure if I wanted that. 
They told me to take a day to think about it. That night I had a very special nurse. I will never forget her. It was her first night back on the job after losing her child. She had picked me to be her patient that night. I thought about how strong she was. That night we were able to connect and she showed me a picture of her daughter from The Haven Network. That’s the moment I knew I needed The Haven Network. The next day, The Haven Network came. They were so wonderful and treated me with such respect. My pictures were amazing and if I didn’t have those I don’t think this journey would be the same. It has really helped this journey and I would always recommend them. They were such a help and being able to look at those pictures are the best gift ever. Thank you so much for all you have done for me. I hope you know how much you touch peoples hearts doing this. My best advice I’d give people that aren’t sure about it is do it. You don’t want to look back after the fact and wish you could look at your angel. A pictures worth a thousand words.
I want to start off first by saying you are amazing people and I am so glad my family met you during the most difficult time in our lives. I am so thankful for The Haven Network for everything you all did for us and especially the pictures we received. The day our daughter Alexa passed away, our world came crashing down and if it wasn’t for the amazing pictures that were taken, we would only have a few from our phones. When you lose a child, taking pictures is the last thing on your mind. The moments that were captured were moments of sadness, happiness, weakness, laughter, and a room FULL of love. Our boys, who were 3 and 5 at the time did not get to come up and meet their sister, and it was a choice that my husband and I made, but we looked at the pictures that The Haven Network gave us and I feel they got to meet her through those pictures. They are amazing pictures and to this day I am so very thankful that we chose to have them taken. It was very healing that day just as much as it is today when we look through them. I would most definitely recommend The Haven to help you with your healing process. Thank you sooo very much for all you do! With love, The Strohfus Family
Hospice Care
Being faced with the lethal diagnosis of your baby during pregnancy can be a highly emotional, devastating time that can leave you feeling overwhelmed with all the decisions, appointments and emotions. Know you have somewhere to turn for all the assistance you want. The Haven Network can help provide practical support from diagnosis to the time following the birth of your baby through:
- Family consultation(s)
- Working with you to develop a birth plan
- Funeral planning
- Attending doctors appointments (upon request)
- Professional birth support from our certified SBD birth and bereavement doula
- Helping you bathe and dress your baby
- Providing a memory box, clothing, jewelry and blankets
- Making hand and foot print molds
- Photography
NICU
If your baby needs NICU care, we can help you document your baby’s time in the NICU with professional photography, a memory box to hold your keepsakes and hand and foot print impressions to capture their tiny little fingers and toes.
Grief Support
Grief Counseling for our Haven families is provided by Delinda Grindle and Cody Berillo. They have established an exceptional grief counseling program for our Haven families. Families served by The Haven Network have access to individual and/or family grief counseling sessions at no cost with Cody or Delinda.
Delinda Grindle, LCSW is the Director of Grief Services at KP Counseling here in Rockford. Her philosophy in counseling is “companioning individuals in their healing journeys.” She believes that journey involves reflecting on the physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual areas of one’s life.
Cody Berillo, LCSW is a counselor at KP Counseling and provides individual and/or family grief counseling to our Haven families at no cost. Grief counseling can be an integral part of the healing process and having access to a qualified, compassionate grief counselor can make a world of difference.
Haven families will receive specific information via email regarding grief counseling and how our grief counseling program through The Haven works. Our counseling services are only for those families served directly in the hospital by The Haven Network team.