A Public Health Emergency That Touches Every Kind of Family.
Embrace Foundation exists because Western North Carolina families facing infant loss deserve more than silence — and more than a system that sends them home without support.
In the United States, more than 21,000 babies are stillborn every year. Thousands more die in their first weeks of life. Countless families face miscarriage — one in four pregnancies — or receive a devastating diagnosis that leads to the heartbreak of termination for medical reasons. Each of these losses is profound. Each one changes a family forever.
The Grief No One Prepares You For
When a baby dies, the grief that follows can affect every part of a person’s life. Parents describe feelings of deep sorrow, shock, numbness, guilt, anger, and fear — emotions that are intense, confusing, and often frightening. Grief touches not just the heart but the whole body, and it can affect relationships, the ability to work, the capacity to parent other children, and a person’s sense of self.
What makes this grief especially isolating is that our culture does not know how to hold it. Friends and family often do not know what to say. Workplaces expect a quick return. And the healthcare system too often sends families home without the support they urgently need.
The United States has the highest rate of maternal and infant mortality among high-income countries. And within our borders, that burden falls hardest on Black, Indigenous, and low-income families. The Black-to-white stillbirth rate ratio has not narrowed in more than seventy years. This is not a coincidence. It is the outcome of systemic inequity in healthcare access and quality — and it demands a direct, community-rooted response.
The Barriers Are Real
- Inability to return to work due to unresolved grief, anxiety, and PTSD
- Difficulty parenting surviving or subsequent children while carrying unprocessed loss
- Medical debt from NICU stays, deliveries, and end-of-life care that can follow a family for years
- Social stigma — particularly around stillbirth and termination for medical reasons — that pushes grief underground
- A critical shortage of mental health providers trained in perinatal grief and loss
- Long wait times, inadequate insurance coverage, and in rural areas, near-total absence of specialized care
What the Research Shows
The scale of this crisis is documented. The inequity is documented. The evidence that community support changes outcomes — that too is documented.
1 in 4
pregnancies ends in miscarriage
21,000+
stillbirths in the U.S. each year
2–3×
more likely — Black women face pregnancy-related death compared to white women
70+ yrs
the Black-to-white stillbirth rate ratio has not narrowed
Bereaved parents face significantly elevated risk of PTSD, depression, and complicated grief — conditions that, when untreated, affect every area of their lives.
Access to community-based grief support is one of the strongest predictors of long-term recovery after infant loss. Partners, grandparents, and siblings are frequently overlooked by existing systems.
Local Need. Community-Led Solutions.
Western North Carolina is a resilient, beautiful region that is also medically underserved. Hospital closures, insurance gaps, and provider shortages mean that many families here have nowhere to turn after a loss. Embrace Foundation exists to fill that gap — not as an outside organization parachuting in, but as a community built from within, by families who have lived this grief and refused to let others face it alone.
By the Numbers
Our work is measured in families supported, gatherings held, providers trained, and babies honored. The data below reflects our growing reach across Western North Carolina. Update quarterly.
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Families supported through circles, referrals, and direct services
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Remembrance events hosted
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Healthcare providers trained in perinatal bereavement care
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Babies honored on our Founding Families memorial wall
What Families Tell Us
Our aim is to provide trauma-informed emotional support, therapeutic resources, and remembrance opportunities for families navigating perinatal loss, birth trauma, and the unexpected death of an infant — offering a safe space to grieve, heal, and honor their loved one.
“[Parent testimonial.]”
— [First name], [City, NC]
“Moving families from grief to grace through community connections.”
Make a Difference Today
Every Gift Honors a Life.
Grief is something every family experiences. Access to grief support is not. In Western North Carolina, many families face infant loss without the mental health care, community support, and compassionate guidance they desperately need. Your gift to Embrace Foundation changes that.
It funds a seat in a support circle for a bereaved parent who has nowhere else to turn. It makes a remembrance gathering possible for parents who need to say their baby’s name out loud in a room full of people who understand. No family should have to navigate this alone. Your support makes sure more of them don’t.