A Perpetually Welcoming Sanctuary

We offer a comforting embrace for those in grief. Our sanctuary is a sacred space, accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing a quiet place for reflection whenever your heart needs it.

Baby Land in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Morris, IL. The inspiration for Not Forgotten Children.

The Communal Care Process

Important Information

Please note that once a communal burial is completed, there is no possibility of future disinterment. We ensure the sanctuary remains a permanent and undisturbed resting place. Support is available for all families, regardless of hospital affiliation.

Our mission is to ensure every child is treated with the highest dignity. We provide a path for burial that supports both partnering hospitals and independent families at zero cost.

Quarterly Communal Burial — Dignified gatherings held four times a year.

Biodegradable Materials — Respectful and environmentally conscious care.

Morgue Care — Hospital care provided for up to three months before burial.

Zero Cost — No financial burden for families during communal burial.

Artist Depiction of Land Layout

Sanctuary Details

The sanctuary is thoughtfully designed as a communal garden, featuring individual plots integrated into a half-circle mulch layout. Bordered by rustic half-bricks, each space is a safe haven for mementos. Families are welcome to leave fresh flowers and small memorial items to honor their children.

Artist Depiction of Tombstone Layout

The Memorial Wall

For Early Loss & Abortion

We provide a judgment-free space of remembrance for those who have lost a child where remains are not available, including after an abortion. Our memorial wall, crafted from granite or bronze, is dedicated to housing the names of these precious lives, ensuring they are not forgotten.

Financial Aid & Support

Guardian Grants

Monument Partnerships

We understand the weight of financial burden during times of loss. Our Guardian Grants are available to help families secure individual resting places for their children, ensuring every child has a beautiful home.

Through our established partnerships with memorial stone companies, we help facilitate the creation of lasting monuments. We invite families to use our Contact Us tab to discuss these opportunities.

Required Intake Forms

Burial Application Form

A gentle guide to requesting a communal or individual burial at our sanctuary.

Open Form

Guardian Grants Form

Application for financial assistance to help secure a final resting place.

Open Form

In Memoriam Registry

Request to have a child's name added to the granite or bronze memorial wall.

Open Form

Understanding Your Care Options

We believe that every family should have the autonomy to choose how they wish to honor and remember their child. At our sanctuary in Williamson County, Illinois, we provide completely transparent pathways for final care, ensuring no family is ever forced to navigate clinical trauma alone or under financial duress.

Below are the permanent care arrangements you may choose from, designed to encompass every type of family circumstance and personal preference.

Option 1: Quarterly Communal Care & Burial

Cost to Family: Always $0.00 (Fully Covered)

Our communal burial program is our core care model, engineered to provide a deeply loving, professional, and entirely cost-free resting place for families facing sudden crisis.

How it Works: Every three months, we partner with licensed professionals to safely transport and aggregate children from healthcare centers. Each child is cradled individually in 100% natural, biodegradable materials—such as soft linen shrouds or hand-woven baskets. They are then laid to rest together within a secure, protective, high-density communal vault.
The Shared Tribute: Rather than individual markers, a single, magnificent, permanent monument (granite or bronze) is erected over the communal burial section to honor the specific seasonal gathering, ensuring no child rests anonymous. Each Gravestone will have a foot and a half semi-circle in front of the stone for individual and group moment. This custom barrier allows people to safely leave fresh flowers, small stuffed animals, and tokens of remembrance without fear of groundskeepers ever moving or mowing over their precious items.
Finality & Peace: To fully protect the absolute sanctity of this shared resting space, future individual disinterment (exhumation) is physically and legally impossible, ensuring permanent, undisturbed sleep.
Who This is For: Families who find deep comfort in the idea of shared dignity, as well as those navigating a loss within our partnering hospital networks or independently on their own.

Option 2: Private, Individual Plots

Cost to Family: $450.00 to $1,600.00 (Subsidized by Guardian Grants Based on Available Funding)

We understand that every family experiences grief differently, and some parents feel a deep personal need for a distinct, individual burial plot. This pathway is specifically designed for families who are willing and able to take this extra personalized step, though it is not entirely required.

The Dedicated Space: Your child is buried in a private, individual micro-plot within our primary burial garden, perfectly proportioned to respect and protect the tiny, delicate physical footprint of infants and early-gestation children.
Personal Tributes (Grave Safeguards): Every individual headstone features a beautifully manicured, half-circle border of dark wood-mulch extending exactly 1.5 feet outward and secured by rustic half-bricks. This custom barrier allows parents to safely leave fresh flowers, small stuffed animals, and tokens of remembrance without fear of groundskeepers ever moving or mowing over their precious items.
The Direct Costs: Private burial arrangements incur direct professional expenses ranging between $450.00 and $1,600.00. This covers customized transport outside the quarterly schedule, unique biodegradable receptacles, mechanical excavation, and a flat granite marker.
The Guardian Grants Program: If you wish to choose an individual plot but cannot absorb the full price, you may apply for financial assistance through our Guardian Grants Program. Please Note: These grants are funded strictly through external institutional alliances and hospital community benefit pools. If the fund holds a sufficient balance at the time of your request, your costs will be partially or fully subsidized. If grant funds are depleted, families are responsible for paying the remaining balance.

Option 3: The Memorial Wall Inscription

Cost to Family: $50.00 (Can Be Fully Covered if Needed)

For many mothers and families, a painful void occurs when a loss is experienced so early in pregnancy that physical remains cannot be clinically recovered. Similarly, women who have experienced an abortion frequently navigate complex, unaddressed grief and seek a sacred space of recognition.

A Judgment-Free Space of Honor: Our central Memorial Wall, built of enduring granite and bronze, serves as a permanent emotional anchor.
In Memoriam Digital Registry & Physical Wall: Families can permanently inscribe their child's name, initials, or a quiet message of remembrance onto the wall. If a loss occurred early or via abortion, your child is still recognized as a precious life and given a lasting home.
Surrounding Reflection: The wall is situated next to an open-air stone altar and surrounded by peaceful benches, guardian angel statues, and a quiet, wood-mulch walking trail for private reflection.
Funding the Inscription: There is a nominal cost of $50.00 to execute a permanent engraving on the wall. However, our board firmly believes that financial hardship should never bar a child from being remembered. If this expense poses a financial burden to your family, simply check the fee-waiver box on our intake form, and the cost will be fully covered by the sanctuary's general fund.

Critical Notes for All Families

Visiting Hours: Our sanctuary features no towering iron gates, chains, or imposing perimeter fences. It is perpetually open, welcoming families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allowing you to walk, pray, or sit with your child whenever your grief requires it.

Tombstone & Memento Partnerships: Not Forgotten Children partners directly with trusted regional monument and memorial stone companies. If you wish to purchase customized personal mementos or upgrades for your child's memory, we are able to leverage these alliances to secure significantly lower wholesale pricing for our families. To access these benefits, please reach out directly to our board through the Contact Us tab on our website.

A Perpetually Welcoming Sanctuary

The Communal Care Process

Important Information

Sanctuary Details

The Memorial Wall

For Early Loss & Abortion

Financial Aid & Support

Guardian Grants

Monument Partnerships

Required Intake Forms

Burial Application Form

Guardian Grants Form

In Memoriam Registry

Understanding Your Care Options

Below are the permanent care arrangements you may choose from, designed to encompass every type of family circumstance and personal preference.

Option 1: Quarterly Communal Care & Burial

Cost to Family: Always $0.00 (Fully Covered)

Our communal burial program is our core care model, engineered to provide a deeply loving, professional, and entirely cost-free resting place for families facing sudden crisis.

Finality & Peace: To fully protect the absolute sanctity of this shared resting space, future individual disinterment (exhumation) is physically and legally impossible, ensuring permanent, undisturbed sleep.

Who This is For: Families who find deep comfort in the idea of shared dignity, as well as those navigating a loss within our partnering hospital networks or independently on their own.

Option 2: Private, Individual Plots

Cost to Family: $450.00 to $1,600.00 (Subsidized by Guardian Grants Based on Available Funding)

We understand that every family experiences grief differently, and some parents feel a deep personal need for a distinct, individual burial plot. This pathway is specifically designed for families who are willing and able to take this extra personalized step, though it is not entirely required.

The Dedicated Space: Your child is buried in a private, individual micro-plot within our primary burial garden, perfectly proportioned to respect and protect the tiny, delicate physical footprint of infants and early-gestation children.

The Direct Costs: Private burial arrangements incur direct professional expenses ranging between $450.00 and $1,600.00. This covers customized transport outside the quarterly schedule, unique biodegradable receptacles, mechanical excavation, and a flat granite marker.

Option 3: The Memorial Wall Inscription

Cost to Family: $50.00 (Can Be Fully Covered if Needed)

For many mothers and families, a painful void occurs when a loss is experienced so early in pregnancy that physical remains cannot be clinically recovered. Similarly, women who have experienced an abortion frequently navigate complex, unaddressed grief and seek a sacred space of recognition.

A Judgment-Free Space of Honor: Our central Memorial Wall, built of enduring granite and bronze, serves as a permanent emotional anchor.

In Memoriam Digital Registry & Physical Wall: Families can permanently inscribe their child's name, initials, or a quiet message of remembrance onto the wall. If a loss occurred early or via abortion, your child is still recognized as a precious life and given a lasting home.

Surrounding Reflection: The wall is situated next to an open-air stone altar and surrounded by peaceful benches, guardian angel statues, and a quiet, wood-mulch walking trail for private reflection.

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Critical Notes for All Families

Visiting Hours: Our sanctuary features no towering iron gates, chains, or imposing perimeter fences. It is perpetually open, welcoming families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allowing you to walk, pray, or sit with your child whenever your grief requires it.