By Mikayla van Loon
For 20 years volunteers in Mooroolbark have been providing families support through one of the most challenging moments in their lives – miscarriage and stillbirth.
Treasured Babies brings together the skills of sewing, crocheting and knitting to create a carefully designed pack of appropriately sized clothing and blankets for babies to be buried in.
What began as a knitting group in 2002 in a living room, has grown exponentially and has provided over 20,000 packs to parents.
Volunteer Cindy Furby said when the idea was suggested all those years ago by a new member of the knitting group, she couldn’t say no to the opportunity to help bereaved parents.
“[A lady said] it’s for SIDS and Kids and it’s for tiny, deceased babies and to help the mums and dads. Of course, straightaway, I just said ‘yes’, I put my hand up and it’s just gone from there.” she said.
Since then, the operation has brought on board the Croydon Men’s Shed to build and paint white Angel boxes that are fitted with a handmade cushion and mattress, designed from wedding dress silk.
Although always a local initiative that provided clothing packs around the state, Red Nose bereavement director Rachel Ficinus said in 2016 SIDS and Kids became a national program, meaning Treasured Babies also expanded to the national scale.
“It’s always been local. It’s always been in Mooroolbark and Chirnside Park. All the people who volunteer here are local. The Men’s shed is local. So there’s lots of really lovely local connections in the community here for Treasured Babies,” she said.
Ms Ficinus said Treasured Babies still works on the same number of volunteers it began with and the same amount of funding, the only difference is people from all over the country now donate sewn, knitted and crocheted items to be sorted at the Mooroolbark headquarters.
“They’re all all handcrafted. Nothing is done by machines or in bulk, they’re all individually made by volunteers across the country and they send in all their items and then the ladies here sort through it to pick and choose and put the packs together,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s any part of the process that isn’t touched by a human, there’s a human touch on everything and each part just has so much care.”
Ms Furby said each pack comes with a bunny rug, a blanket, a sleeping bag, cardigan, booties, a beanie, a nightie and a little heart sized for a baby born at 14 weeks to a full term newborn.
When a mother has a miscarriage or a stillbirth, hospitals contact Treasured Babies and multiple packs are sent out for the family to choose.
The baby will be buried in the items from one pack and the parents get to keep another in a memory box also hand painted by volunteers.
Having heard of SIDS for Kids 20 years ago, Ms Furby said she knew of the heartache some women went through when losing a child but it was often very taboo.
Now in her twentieth year volunteering and organising Treasured Babies, Ms Furby said she believes every baby should be “acknowledged, honoured and treated as a little person.”
“It gives me comfort that these babies have been cared for,” she said.
For a number of the women who volunteer at Treasured Babies, they too have lost a child to miscarriage or stillbirth during a time when they were told “go home and forget about it.”
They now volunteer to help support women who are given the chance to grieve and to help make a traumatic process that little bit easier, as well as ensuring they know they are not alone.
While it can be challenging to see the shelves empty and knowing how often the packs are being sent out to families, volunteers like Ms Furby said they feel better knowing their gesture of support is being received by parents.
Ms Ficinus said one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage and there around six stillbirths a day in Australia.
“It’s really hard to explain to someone who’s maybe not been here what it’s like and when I first came here, it was overwhelming because you realise the magnitude of what goes into each of these very individually beautifully designed and created packs.”
The entire process relies on donations and volunteers to ensure these babies are given the dignity they deserve.
Ms Furby and Ms Ficinus said the donation of pastel coloured material or wool, money, craft vouchers and time are the best way to support Treasured Babies.
With quite a number of knitters committed to the making of blankets and beanies, Ms Furby said more sewers are greatly needed.
To find out more about Treasured Babies, go to rednose.org.au/page/treasured-babies.
