Baby Loss Awareness Week | 9–15 October
Every year, during Baby Loss Awareness Week, we remember the babies who were lost too soon and the families who continue to carry their loss.
At the old Folkestone Cemetery, Friends of Folkestone Cemetery created the White Garden, a quiet place where parents and relatives can sit, reflect and remember a baby who was stillborn or, as many families describe it, “born sleeping”.
During this special week, we place knitted white butterflies along the garden fence as a simple act of remembrance.
In the mid to late twentieth century, some stillborn babies were buried in local cemeteries without a formal funeral service, and sometimes without records that families could later trace. Parents were not always given the opportunity to see or hold their baby, and some were left without the information they needed to understand what had happened. Many families were left to grieve without the recognition or support they needed.
Over time, understanding of the importance of acknowledging a baby’s life and supporting parents through their grief has grown. Today, we recognise that every family’s experience is different, and that there is no single way to grieve.
The White Garden offers a peaceful space for remembrance, away from the demands of everyday life. It is there for anyone who needs a moment of quiet reflection, whether they wish to sit alone with their memories or simply spend a little time in the garden.
The babies remembered here may have lived for only a short time, or never drawn breath, but they mattered. Their lives mattered, and their families’ love for them matters.
This Baby Loss Awareness Week, the white butterflies on our fence are a small reminder that these little lives are not forgotten.
Remembering, always.
