| Services for Families
Initial Care and Follow-up
Continuing Care
Culturally Competent Services
Bereaved Parent Support Group
Initial Care and Follow-Up
When an unresponsive infant is brought to the emergency room of the hospital, the child is examined and resuscitation initiated or continued. Parents may be present during the resuscitation process or remain in a private room. An attending nurse or social worker informs parents of the child's condition frequently. When the mother and father are informed of their child’s death, emergency staff offer immediate emotional support and encourage parents to see and hold their child. Before parents leave the hospital, staff ascertain where and how they can be contacted in the immediate future.
Telephone contact is made by the SIDS Center staff with the family within 24-48 hours to provide crisis counseling, preliminary autopsy information, and notification that a bereavement counselor will call to schedule a home visit. A condolence letter is sent to the family with brochures and other information about the cause of death and the grieving process. All families are informed of parent support group meetings and availability of parent to parent contact. We encourage participation in support groups because they provide a nurturing environment in which parents can express their feelings, meet other grieving parents, and receive reliable information.
top of page
Continuing Care
The professional nurse counselor or social worker is responsible for providing care to the bereaved family. The overall goal of counseling is to mobilize the strengths of the family to assimilate the loss of the baby in a way that allows family members to continue to function and to recognize that life is worth living and happiness is possible.
More than 35 agencies and 90 community based licensed health care professionalsand social workers contract with the Massachusetts Center to provide follow-up to families during the first year of bereavement. During family meetings, the nurse or social worker presents accurate information about the cause of death, provides anticipatory guidance regarding the grieving process; evaluates each family member's response to the death; assesses social support systems; informs the family of available resources; obtains medical information for the Center’s statistical data base; and reviews written autopsy reports. Bereavement home visits and telephone contact are provided during the first year of bereavement and beyond.
top of page
Culturally Competent Services
community based licensed health care professionalswho provide bereavement counseling come from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, including African-American, Haitian, Latino, Portuguese, West Indian and Cape Verdean. Center staff train nurses who are fluent in Spanish, Haitian, French Creole, Portuguese and French. These training programs include information on cultural awareness and sensitivity as well as cultural beliefs regarding death, dying, and bereavement. Appropriate bereavement follow-up is enhanced with the assistance of qualified interpreters.
top of page
Bereaved Parent Support Group
This group aids in the resolution of the early trauma of grief experienced by parents following the sudden unexpected death of their infant or young child. Parents need to talk about their baby. They need to talk about the events of his/her life as well as death, feelings related to their own grieving, reactions of other children, and concerns about subsequent children.
Group leaders are Mary McClain, RN, MS, Marcia Kelly, RN, MA, and Maryrose Coiner, PhD.
The Support Group provides:
a safe environment for parents to express their feelings
contact with others who share their grief and are at various stages of resolution
a reliable source of information about the cause of death the opportunity to help others.
Meetings are held monthly in Boston, Springfield, and additional locations as the need arises. Any parent experiencing an infant death is welcome, as are grandparents, siblings, extended family members, friends and babysitters. No pre-registration is required, and there is no fee. For a list of Bereaved Parent Meetings, click here.
top of page
Contact the SIDS Center
Mary McClain, RN, MS
Boston Medical Center
1 Boston Medical Center Pl
Boston, MA 02118-2393
(617) 414-SIDS
(800) 641-7437 (MA & RI) | 
