When Kambra Malone lost her baby in 2005 during pregnancy, she didn’t know what to do or who to contact.
She began writing a guide for others in the same situation, hoping that no one would experience the loss of direction that she did.
“It’s the most unnatural and horrible thing to ever happen to a parent,” Malone said. “You never expect to lose your children.”
Her efforts soon became Back In His Arms Again ministry, an organization that provides education, care, guidance and financial services for families experiencing the loss of a child. Malone serves as the organization’s executive director.
“It’s been the greatest honor and blessing to be a part of this and to have something that was founded out of my own grief,” she said.
When Back In His Arms Again was founded in 2005, Malone said she received between two and five calls a month. Now, a typical monthly call volume averages 100.
The ministry is entirely supported by personal donations and grants, and it serves any family who has lost children up to age 2. Malone said, in certain situations, the organization might be able to offer assistance above that age limit.
“We help any baby from the age of conception until the age of 2,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a few weeks pregnant, a few months pregnant – we help with all of it: miscarriage, stillbirth, death after birth, anything that you can think of as far as losing a baby.”
The ministry foremost is dedicated to educating individuals and spreading the word about the resources they offer, so families know what is available to them before being in a situation where they need it.
“Keeping people educated and informed is our number one goal,” Malone said.
She hopes that the various resources offered by Back In His Arms Again will benefit families and they are not left searching for help as she was.
“I found myself honestly flipping through the Yellow Pages in the year 2005, trying to figure out, who do I call, who’s going to pick the baby up from the hospital, where are they going to go, and then, what’s going to happen, and, do I need a funeral home or do I not need a funeral home?” she recalled.
Back In His Arms Again seeks to educate physicians, chaplains, religious leaders and staff at women’s centers about the resources the organization offers. They coordinate with hospitals, funeral homes and outside services.
Back In His Arms Again connects families with various organizations such as Newborns in Need, which has a local chapter outside of Newark, Malone said, and offers proper size burial layettes and blankets.
Newborns in Need also provides hospitals with incubator covers, hats, booties and blankets for infants.
Each family has different needs after the loss of a child, she said, and Back In His Arms Again has been approached with many. Common needs from families who lost a child include finding a funeral home, transportation for their baby’s remains or financial assistance for a burial.
She said the ministry works with all central Ohio area funeral homes. Kevin Ryan, the director at Egan-Ryan Funeral Home, serves on the board of directors for Back In His Arms Again.
“They are wonderful,” Malone said of Egan-Ryan Funeral Home. “They’ve done so much for our ministry as far as donations and reductions of costs to help families.”
Back In His Arms Again will also help families bury their child wherever they wish to have them buried, Malone said.
The Garden of the Holy Innocents, located at Resurrection Cemetery in Lewis Center, offers a resting place in central Ohio for infants who were miscarried or full-term infants who died and were cremated.
Father Homer Blubaugh, a retired priest of the diocese, serves as chaplain for Back In His Arms Again ministry and blessed the Garden of the Holy Innocents in 2014. Nearly 4,000 babies are buried there.
“Lots of young people that lose children are really not financially stable enough to afford a dignified burial, and so, we’re going to help with that, too,” she said. “And then, we have a bunch of other resources at our fingertips of all different wonderful organizations in our community that we can refer our families to that do other things than we do, for instance, counseling.”
Back In His Arms Again also organizes memorial Masses and events throughout the year.
Quarterly Masses are celebrated in the Resurrection Cemetery chapel by Father Blubaugh or a guest priest.
The organization recently held a “Wave of Light” event at Resurrection Cemetery on Oct. 15, which is recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Individuals in all time zones worldwide are encouraged to light a candle outside at 7 p.m. that day.
More recently, Back In His Arms Again began offering a peer-to-peer support group for families. The group, known as “Seeking Healing through Friendship,” offers activities, including reading and discussing a book together, making Christmas ornaments or painting nights.
The group meets about every other month, or around four to five times a year.
“It’s been wonderful,” Malone said. “So far, only moms have come, but it’s for anybody who’s lost a loved one. It is just really good fellowship and nice to be in the company of people who, if you want to talk about things … you’re welcome to do so without feeling funny.”
Cornerstone of Hope, which was founded in 2003 and serves individuals in central Ohio, was also born out of grief from the loss of a child.
Mark and Christi Tripodi founded the ministry after the sudden loss of their 3-year-old son Bobby.
After losing their son, they sought local assistance but were devastated by the lack of support available to them. They acquired information from national bereavement programs and created a professional model of care now known as Cornerstone of Hope, a group spokesperson said.
The organization offers bereavement care for grieving children, adults and families.
Cornerstone of Hope’s headquarters is located in Independence, Ohio, serving the northeast region of the state. In 2011, a comprehensive grief support center was opened in central Ohio and a Christian counseling center in Lima.
Services include grief support groups, grief counseling, spiritual care, memorial events, grief camps, community response, school programs and specialty groups. Businesses can also offer help, through Cornerstone of Hope, to employees whose productivity has been affected by a death.
The organization’s Mid-Ohio Traumatic Loss Response Team serves Crawford, Marion, Delaware and Morrow counties. The team provides response and follow-up for individuals impacted by suicide, homicide and substance-related death.
It “serves in partnership with law enforcement, coroners, medical examiners and a wide array of other community service providers,” a group spokesperson said. Free services include immediate support, resources and connection with survivors who have similar experiences.
The team also offers professional educational courses on grief and loss and training opportunities funded by the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health & Recovery Services Board and the Crawford-Marion Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Board.
For information on Cornerstone of Hope, call 614-824-4285 or visit www.CornerstoneOfHope.org.
For more information on Back In His Arms Again ministry, call 614-906-3115 or visit www.BackInHisArmsAgain.com.