Vision & Mission

Abigail’s Footsteps was launched in 2010 by parents Jo and David Ward following the death of their daughter Abigail Ward who was stillborn at 41 weeks gestation. Abigail’s Footsteps achieved charitable status on the 18th September 2012. We will be commemorating our 10 year anniversary in 2020.

Our vision

To focus on improving the care given around stillbirth bereavement, we would like to see more support given to bereaved families both in the hospital and following up once they have returned home.

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Around 13  babies are either stillborn or die a neonatal death every single day in the United Kingdom. Despite this shocking statistic, many hospitals remain ill prepared to deal with these events. Staff often receive little or no bereavement training and facilities are inadequate.

Our mission

To provide healthcare professionals with bereavement care training and support to ensure that bereaved parents receive the highest standard of care, following the death of a much loved baby.

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• 1) Improve bereavement training for health care professionals; to improve the bereavement training that health care professionals and care staff receive and to improve the quality of supportive information that families receive if their family suffers a stillbirth.

• 3) Ensure that bereavement suites are located away from the main maternity ward; by making the best use of hospital architecture and layout; fund sensitively designed delivery rooms located away from maternity wards in each on Britain’s maternity units.