Heaven’s Gain - providing care and caskets after miscarriage

By Maria Servold EPLA Editor

Support from friends and family is essential in the days, weeks, and months following a miscarriage. Loved ones provide essential things, especially emotional and physical support. But what about the things you may not think you need?

Organizations like the Early Pregnancy Loss Association are driven to provide resources for women immediately following a loss. We are also pleased to work with other organizations who fill needs we aren’t able to. One such organization is Heaven’s Gain Ministries.

The organization's founders, Jim and Donna Murphy, suffered three losses of their own. They were unable to find a casket small enough for their miscarried babies, so they decided to create a company that could
provide them. As they explain:

"We did not want any other family to be in this situation and so we start Heaven’s Gain. It is so important for us to offer dignified caskets and urns for families experiencing the loss of a baby..​ We also offer support , advocacy, and guidance for grieving families. We hope we can serve as a part of your healing as your grieve your baby."

In addition to selling beautiful caskets and urns, Heaven’s Gain provides information about infant burial. Sadly, many families do not know there are options available for burying a miscarried baby. Oftentimes, a family need only talk to a local funeral home to figure out what is allowed where they live, but in the fog of grief, such conversations may feel impossible. Heaven’s Gain provides a list of infant burial guidelines for each state. This is a great resource to share with a friend or family member who has recently suffered a loss and is interested in burial.

The Early Pregnancy Loss Association is honored to promote the work of other organizations helping families after loss. Soon, we will be partnering with Heaven’s Gain to provide their miscarriage kits as part of our at-home miscarriage care boxes. The specially-designed kits allow a woman to preserve the body of a miscarried baby until it can be cremated or buried. Such kits may seem gruesome, but Heaven’s Gain has filled the need families have for properly caring for their miscarried babies.

This Christmas season, let’s be grateful for organizations like Heaven’s Gain and others that fill gaps and provide care for suffering women and families.

Maria Servold is an Editor at the EPLA, Assistant Director of the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism, and Lecturer in Journalism at Hillsdale College