Mission Statement

The SIMON Project is an all volunteer organization dedicated to supporting the needs of bereaved parents, grand parents, families and friends, caregivers and child care providers who have experienced the death of an infant.

The SIMON Projects goals are focused on the immediate and ongoing needs of an individual through a peer to peer outreach network of parents who have experienced similar infant deaths related to SIDS, SUDI, miscarriage, stillbirth or deaths related to medical/health complications or accidents.

The SIMON Project strives to provide a support network that can help individuals, parents and families address their specific identified needs for referrals to professional therapeutic supports, identify clergy who are experienced in infant death, lactation consultation, funeral homes & directors, bereavement supports and peer to peer matching and peer support groups.

The SIMON Project will work toward helping to identify areas where training and education may be helpful related to infant death and response by various health and social service personnel and agencies, emergency responders, public health officials, medical personnel, midwives, doulas and child care providers.

The Simon Project will maintain its association with the Lamoille Family Center (who will be the projects fiscal agent) and will work towards a relationship with the Parent Child Center Network of Vermont, Parent to Parent - Vermont, The Vermont Dept. of Health, and maintain an affiliation with First Candle/SIDS Alliance national non-profit.

Beliefs

• Everyone who has experienced the death of a child or the loss of a pregnancy should have access to bereavement support as they see fit
• Appropriate bereavement support helps people cope with their loss
• Different people have different bereavement needs and for a given person, needs vary through time