If you are reading this as a bereaved parent, we are very sorry for your loss.
The death of a baby is truly devastating for parents and families. Many bereaved parents and family members experience a mix of emotions that can be overwhelming. These are a natural response to an incredibly challenging situation. You may be concerned for yourself or for others in your family. You may have many questions about what to do next, and where to seek support.
Support is available in many forms. Parents and family members may have different needs at different times. Many weeks, months, or even years may have passed since your baby died. No matter how recent or long ago, you may find there are times when it helps to seek support. See below a list of some national support organisations and resources that are available in Australia.
Please note if you need an interpreter to help speak with any of the service, please call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 131 450 or access the website for more information.
Perinatal loss and grief services
1.1 Support services
- Red Nose: Providing support and working towards zero preventable deaths. Phone the 24/7 Red Nose Grief and Loss Support Line on 1300 308 307.
- SMS4dads: For fathers who experience the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or other medical complications. SMS4dads provide free text messages of support, information, and tips through Red Nose. Join up at For Dads or Deadly Dads.
- Bears of Hope: Providing support for families who experience the loss of their baby. Phone the grief support service on 1300 11 HOPE, email support@bearsofhope.org.au.
- The Pink Elephants Support Network: Providing resources and support for early pregnancy loss and miscarriage.
- Gidget Foundation Australia: a not-for-profit organisation supporting the emotional wellbeing of parents in the perinatal period, including those parents whose baby has died, to ensure they receive timely, appropriate and specialist care.
- Miracle Babies Foundation: Comprehensive parent to parent support program available from a threatened pregnancy, during the time spent in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or Special Care Nursery (SCN), and during the transition to home and beyond. This support also includes the loss of a baby cared for by a NICU/SCN.
- The Compassionate Friends Australia: provides friendship and understanding to support bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents after the death of a child of any age.
- Rural Health Connect – Provides psychology support over video and phone for anyone impacted by perinatal loss.
1.2 Advocacy organisations
1.3 Lasting memories of your baby
- Heartfelt: a volunteer organisation of professional photographers who gift photographic memories (free-of-charge) to families who have experienced stillbirth or who have children with serious or life-threatening illness.
- Possum Portraits: offers hand-drawn pregnancy and infant loss portraits for bereaved families and their families.
- Angel Gowns Australia: provides bereaved families with memorial gifts including Angel Gown packages for their baby.
- Miracle Babies Foundation: provides memory boxes for newborn loss.
- Bears of Hope: provides bears, baby keepsake books, and other legacies of love for parents to honour their baby.
1.4 Other resources
Podcasts
- The Still Nest Podcast: A ‘nest of support’ to displace the empty nest bereaved parents are left with. A place for bereaved parents, particularly from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, to be seen, heard, and understood.
- The Glimmer Podcast: This podcast is for fellow grieving families who have suffered pregnancy loss – miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death. Using wisdom, knowledge and insights sourced from interviewing experts and specialists in the fields commonly accessed by grieving mothers, this podcast aims to support parents with as much psychological fortitude, compassion and connection with others as possible.
- Still Parents Podcast: How Dad’s deal with pregnancy and baby loss
- The Pink Elephants Support Network: The Miscarriage Rebellion – Hear from Australians who have experienced the devastation of early pregnancy loss and experts who provide insight into the challenges we face. With evidence and empathy, The Miscarriage Rebellion unpacks the shame, blame and stigma; the lack of support that many face and the need for better understanding and care.
Books
- Still at Birth – Caroline Sugden
- Still a Mum – Meagan Donaldson
- Mackenzie’s Mission – Rachael Casella
- Still Breathing: My journey with love, loss and reinvention – Katie Joy
Companion booklets
- A little help from Jack: a comprehensive list of resources regarding baby loss, created by Emily Judd and Nick Waldron in memory of their son Jack, born still in 2021.
- A little help from Remy: a comprehensive list of resources regarding terminations for medical reasons (TFMR), created by Meagan Donaldson in memory of her son, Remy, born via TFMR in 2023.
1.5 Lactation support services
- Australian Breastfeeding Association: runs a free 24/7 National Breastfeeding Helpline (1800 686 268 or “1800 mum 2 mum”) that is staffed by qualified breastfeeding counsellors. The service is judgement-free.
General perinatal mental health and wellbeing
- PANDA: Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia supports the mental health of parents and families during pregnancy and in their first year of parenthood.
- Gidget Foundation Australia: a not-for-profit organisation that supports the emotional wellbeing of expectant and new parents to ensure they receive timely, appropriate and specialist care.
- Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE): a not-for-profit organisation devoted to reducing the impacts of emotional and mental health problems in the prenatal and postnatal periods. The Centre has an online directory that can be filtered by location to show perinatal mental health services in Australia.
- Centre for Perinatal Psychology: provides a national directory of psychologists with expertise in perinatal loss counselling who are dedicated to supporting mothers, fathers, infants, couples, and families during the perinatal period. Phone 1300 852 660 or visit the website to find a psychologist in your location.
- Pregnancy, Birth and Baby: is funded by the Australian Government and operated by Healthdirect Australia. It provides information and advice on a range of topics including pregnancy loss, stillbirth, and newborn death.
General grief and loss services
- Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement: provides support for bereaved and grieving Australians. The Centre is an independent, not-for-profit organisation.
- My Grief Assist: offers a broad range of helpful information on loss and grief.
- Griefline: free telephone support, online bereavement support groups and forums, and grief resources and information. The service is funded by the Australian Government. Phone 1300 845 745 (8am to 8pm AEDT: 7 days).
General mental health services, including crisis services (24/7)
- Lifeline: A national charity providing all Australians experiencing emotional distress with access to 24/7 crisis support. Phone 13 11 14, chat online via confidential Crisis Chat
- 13YARN: free and confidential national 24/7 crisis support service run by trained Lifeline Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporters. Phone 13 92 76
- Beyond Blue: Free mental health services including 24/7 counselling. Phone 1300 224 636 or chat online via confidential webchat
- Embrace Multicultural Mental Health is run by Mental Health Australia and provides a national focus on mental health and suicide prevention for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Australia has a range of mental health services. You can use Embrace Mental Health to find out more about relevant national and local providers.
Other Support
In Australia, parents and their partners may be entitled to compassionate leave, parents or carer’s leave, bereavement leave or parental leave and unpaid special maternity leave.
Visit: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/fact-sheets/minimum-workplace-entitlements/parental-leave-and-related-entitlements
Returning to work after the loss of a baby can be a daunting prospect for parents because of concern about colleagues’ reactions, being exposed to triggers of grief, or general feelings of tiredness and reduced concentration. Workplace leaders may struggle to understand the sensitivities around perinatal loss or to know how to provide support. The Pink Elephants Support Network provides training and support for workplace leaders to support employees who experience perinatal loss. It is essential that parents and family members, including grandparents, are provided with a range of support options.
