Our compassionate and professional funerals for babies and children in Minehead, Taunton & across Somerset & Devon with Lady Funeral Director Amanda-Louise
Funerals for Babies and Children
The loss of a baby or child is the most painful experience a parent has to face. We create personal, heartfelt cremation and burial funeral services across Somerset & Devon supporting parents every step of the way.
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Our funerals for Babies and Children
We understand that families have unique needs when experiencing the loss of a pregnancy, a termination, a still birth or the death of a baby or child.
The tragedy of losing a child is the most painful experience any of us can face and it can be difficult to make the decisions and choices whilst feeling raw and vulnerable, so we are here to support you every step of the way. When organising a funeral for a child with us, there is no rush, we wish you to give careful consideration to the choices available along with the comfort and advice you would expect from an experienced female professional funeral directors. Our focus will be to plan the funeral with you, so that it reflects their personality and their time in the world, however short, and gives a degree of comfort to the family at such a distressing time.We will work with you to capture their essence in the most appropriate funeral (whether burial or cremation) and a funeral ceremony with special ways to say goodbye.
At Amanda-Louise Funeral Services, we are also here to support you after the funeral with our specialist child bereavement service, and welcome when the time is right for you, to our social bereaved coffee afternoons to connect with others.
See below what's included in this choice of service:
Financial support is available from the Children’s Funeral Fund which helps families pay for some of the costs of a funeral for a child under 18 or a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy. It is not means-tested.
More Services We Offer
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Whether you want to talk through our funeral services or need help choosing from our range of funeral products. Get in touch with us today.
Babies & Children Funerals
From £POA
PERSONAL MESSAGE TO YOU FROM AMANDA-LOUISE
“I built my independent family run funeral business on kindness and experience with our desire to provide you with every aspect for you to arrange a funeral that reflects how you wish to say goodbye. So, I offer choice,support and value and am not rigid in our approach, so you only pay for what you want and need.Not all funerals are the same and no two funeral directors are the same either. Some funeral directors charge additionally for many aspects of the funeral elements. We care about the living and the departed and know how daunting it can be to arrange a funeral. So, with my heartfelt offering, below is my 10 point gift to support you in your important life decisions, warmly Amanda-Louise”
1. Our Pledge – your loved one remains in our local facilities
2. Our Compliments No Charge (if desired) - Collecting clothing in the local area, our flower placed on coffin if desired as sentimental touch, and delivery of ashes in the local area
3. 'Our Compliments No Charge - A Funeral Notice' online service
4. The ability - for Amanda-Louise Funeral Director to personally come out to your home locally to discuss arrangements in detail
5. Our Compliments No Charge - Choice is very important to us, so you have the option for your gentle funeral ceremony to be conducted by Amanda-Louise (celebrant capacity - subject to availability)
6. Our Pledge Our Heart is Local – we prefer to use only local crematoriums or cemeteries (and not take you out of our region)
7. Our Compliments No Charge - We believe that arranging a meaningful funeral can be a healing experience to support your grief journey. Amanda-Louise will personally support you and guide you through the practical aspects and offer to help you create a fitting ceremony and celebration of life. Our in-house trained bereavement support for adults and children, and open invitations to join us for our bereavement coffee sessions after the funeral enabling a comfortable space and shared experiences
8. Our Partnerships - Access to specialist bereavement counselling for those needing therapeutic structured support
9. Our Pledge for the Planet – we dedicate towards planting a tree in memory of your loved one and our unique way to benefit our environment for future generations by offering a variety of eco-friendly funeral procedures, arrangements, and products too
10. Our Pledge to Ease the Burden – we offer to provide everything you may want or need for a funeral, memorial or celebration of life under our one roof helping to remove some of the stress from your shoulders. From floristry, vehicles, orders of service and ceremony accessories, catering to venue provision and memorabilia and keepsakes
Funeral care and attention at even the most difficult of times
At Amanda-Louise Funeral Services, we will encourage you to participate as much or as little as you wish, offering a specialist caring service that can help you create the funeral you want and need to acknowledge the nature of your loss. We will talk about the legal requirements there are. We give you the time to explore all options available to you to honour such a short life, and to say goodbye.
We can help you to spend time together in a peaceful space or we can help you take them home, if that’s important to you.
We have handpicked beautiful coffins and caskets for babies and small children; some are beautifully weaved locally. Our catalogue of carefully chosen products aim to bring a fitting tribute and goodbye.
Our Charges Our specialist team will offer as much guidance you need. As this is highly specialist and involved nature of the service we provide, we have to charge for our work, however some funeral directors will arrange a simple funeral for no charge, but for families looking for something else, for whatever reason, we’re able to offer the opportunity to create something that’s thoughtful, personal and meaningful and importantly, support you after the funeral too, for as long as you need us. Please note: Financial support is available from the Children’s Funeral Fund which helps families pay for some of the costs of a funeral for a child under 18 or a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy. It is not means-tested.
Typically Included in Amanda-Louise Funeral Babies/Children Services:-
- Bringing the baby or child into our care day or night
- Our gentle care of the baby or child including washing and dressing them in their own clothes, if you prefer prior to the funeral
- A coffin or casket of your choice
- Our full support throughout the process, available day and evening
- A relaxed family visit in person, or conversation via Zoom to discuss options
- Help to complete the paperwork
- Arranging a burial or cremation (burial and cremation fees vary) – you choose the funeral date/time/location (subject to availability)
- Our traditional black hearse (or alternative hearse)
- Where there is a funeral with a service, we can coordinate readings, eulogies, music,visuals, orders of service, keepsakes, if required.
- Consultation on creative elements you can contribute yourself, or you want our support with
- A personalised online announcement page so you can easily share details of the funeral arrangements with family and friends if required
- Research on pricing and booking of venues
- Our Funeral Director Amanda-Louise in attendance to conduct funeral and ensure everything goes smoothly (in either full traditional funeral attire or smart dress if you prefer)
- Support and guidance to carry the coffin yourself (if permitted by the cemetery or crematorium) or use our professional bearers
- Regular contact by Email, Phone, Teams or Zoom
- If cremation - We can collect the ashes on your behalf and bring them home to you
- Help you plan a celebration of life gathering after the funeral
- Our specialist bereavement support for adults and children
Things to consider for baby/children funerals:-
- There is Government financial support, and many crematoriums or church/cemeteries do not charge for elements of their work.
Take the Next Step
Discuss with Amanda-Louise by calling 07879-22-00-46 or email at office@amandalouisefuneralservices.co.uk
The Breakdown of Costs
Transparency is ever so important to us at Amanda-Louise Funeral Services, especially when it comes to pricing. To find out how much you could expect to spend to achieve the funeral that’s right for you see below. We will provide you with a personalised quotation once we have spoken for your consideration.
Funeral Director Professional Charges - At Amanda-Louise Funeral Services we do charge a fee because we recognise how important this work is. But our fee is much less than our usual full flexible support costs for an adult. This is offset by the government's financial payment for the funeral costs - our typical charge is £500 for babies and children under 10 and £700 for 11 to 17 year old to include:-
- Our professional funeral director services and support throughout*
- Our vehicle(s) to attend funeral*
- Our bereavement support*
Coffin Charges - we can advise you on your choices*
*NB Support to obtain financial funeral support available for children under 18 - the Children's Fund for England will pay for any GP fees for them to complete their paperwork (if cremation and coroner not involved), as well as the cost of the cremation or burial itself - this fund is NOT means tested, so it doesnt matter what assets you have. Alternatively The Child Funeral Charity has funding available for aspects of the funeral which are not covered by the Children’s Funeral Fund for England, such as flowers or orders of service. React, a charity which supports families with terminally ill children, will also consider applications for funeral and memorial expenses. Any coffin up to £300 is covered by a government grant from the Children's Funeral Fund for England. If you choose a coffin with a cost price over £300, you will need to cover the additional cost. We can advise you on your choices and we are always clear and open about what the costs are.
Third Party Costs/Disbursements – Many Crematoriums and Churches/Cemeteries do not charge for under 18 years old (or if they do, its likely to be offset by the government funding)
If cremation, the GP may charge his fee to complete paperwork (currently its £82) - offset by government funding if applicable
Professional Embalmer -We do not routinely embalm, but if you request this, we can obtain a price
Professional Ceremony Leader (Minister, Celebrant or Humanist) Prices from £217 -some may not charge for children under 18
If you do not want to conduct the funeral ceremony yourself, you could use a professional such as clergy, celebrant or humanist. We know many talented professionals so just ask, or ask about our in-house celebrant services for religious or non-religious services.
Other Professionals Prices on Request - Professional Funeral Photographer, Videographer, Interpreter/Translator, Sign Language Professional, Dove Release, Musicians/Singer, Bagpiper, Bulger etc
More services we offer
What to expect from us
The enduring strength of women
We care for you and your family
As your Lady Funeral Directors, Amanda-Louise can meet you in the comfort of your own home, or in our peaceful office, or via video call if you'd prefer. We will never tell you how 'things should be done', or rush you, but support you to understand and consider your choices, so that you can decide what is right for you and your family and friends.
We will listen to you, and can help you plan a funeral ceremony. We'll respect your personal beliefs, values and culture and ensure your requirements, and those of the person that has died, are reflected in the funeral. You may prefer a religious funeral, a more secular service or might want to include a number of different religious and spiritual perspectives within the same service.
We can help you to reflect on the life of the person who has died and enable you to create some positive memories to support you at a time when people can often feel sad and alone. We can support you to have a farewell that you desire - so we will support you to understand the wide range of options such as visual, musical, floral, donations, readings/poems for example, as well as organising venue and/or hospitality for your after funeral wake or reception, if you wish.
Importantly, we will be flexible to your needs and wishes and give you our time to help put your ideas into action. You can take as much control as you like. We are able to support families from across Somerset or Devon, are not regionally restricted, we can help you create an event at a time and place that is best for you.
Amanda-Louise Funeral Director, can also personally deliver a heartfelt celebrant led service on your behalf should you wish, or we can recommend other talented professional ceremony leaders including religious ministers, celebrants and humanists.
We work hard to support the wellbeing of every family we support (adults and children).We can also provide a wealth of practical bereavement information for adults and children, and we'll ensure the funeral is meaningful for you, which helps in coming to terms with loss too.
We care for the person who has died
In our care you have trusted us to look after your loved one and we take enormous pride in treating people with respect and dignity. From the very moment the person who has died comes into our care, to the moment they leave, we will treat them with compassion, kindness and consideration. We see this as part of the cycle of life
We reach out and support people from 15 to 50+ miles away from us, as we safely transfer the deceased into our facilities. We'll care for the person entrusted into our funeral home with compassion and dignity, and treat everyone as guests in our home. Or we can assist if you prefer the deceased to remain at home or liaise with a repatriation company for deaths abroad.
We provide a comprehensive range of coffins in different materials, including coffin accessories to suit all tastes. This is a very personal choice, so we happily talk about them or can show you the differences.
We can provide the ability for family to spend time with their loved one, and to change clothing if this is important to you. Plus you can be involved in as little or as much of their care as you desire. We will gently prepare them for their funeral following your wishes including hairstyles or makeup, and whilst we do not routinely embalm we can provide this if you desire. We’ll take great care of any person effects, and give them to you ,or they will remain with the person Plus we can arrange for your items to be placed in the coffin if you wish.
We can even support you to keep your loved one at home right up until their funeral if you wish.
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On the day of the funeral
We understand that attention to detail is really important, from considering the way people enter the service to carefully calculating the journey time.
We can provide our professional pallbearers to convey the coffin. We can help you bear the coffin if that's important to you. We can arrange special routes to the funeral if you wish, or alternative hearses and limousines.
We can arrange to collect family from railway station or airport if helpful.
Some families prefer not to hold the funeral ceremony at a crematorium chapel or in church, so we can support you to have a service in a chosen hotel, hall or alternative venue that is meaningful to you.
Amanda-Louise will be by your side giving you that reassuring presence ensuring everything is going to plan smoothly, and we leave when you are ready for us to go. We can also provide attendance cards so you know who has attended the funeral ceremony service.
After the funeral
We remain connected should you need us. If we collected donations, we will provide you with audit trail so you know they have been forwarded to the relevant people, organisation or charity. We'll collect ashes if that's helpful & deliver them to you. We can arrange for you to scatter them or preserve them if you wish.
We will have spoken to you about the arrangements of the funeral flowers and carried out those wishes. And if required, we can organise graves and headstones to be put in place at a suitable time after a burial or ashes placed.
And we welcome you to stay in touch. Often our clients pop in to talk about how life is treating them, or to attend one of our coffee afternoons as life can be isolating at times following the loss of a loved one. Our kettle is always on, likely biscuits too. Rest assured, we will never stop caring - here for you whenever you need us, wherever you are.
Do you need more help?
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"We all felt totally safe opening our hearts to Amanda-Louise and were so impressed in the skills and empathy she has to understand how we all felt."
How To Register a Death in Taunton and Wellington, Somerset?
If the Coroner wasnt involved, then the GP and the Medical Examiner will look into cause of death, and the Medical Examiner will liaise with the next of kin and ask if they are in agreement with the cause. Once everyone is satisfied, then the Medical Examiner will confirm to the person (typically next of kin or relative) that they can now register the death.
By law you must register the death in England or Wales before the funeral can take place (unless the death has been referred to the Coroner), and at the Registry Office in the area where the deceased died - for Taunton and the surrounding areas this comes under the Somerset Registration Services -to book an appointment with them ring 01823 282251
You make an appointment to see the Registrar. Due to space restrictions, it is likely only one person can attend the Registrar’s office unless it is essential to be accompanied. To ensure you take all the relevant information and paperwork with you, click here to see what you need. During your meeting with the Registrar (typically you are allocated up to 45 minutes), they will check the documentation you bring, ask if you are intending a crematorium or burial, which funeral director you are appointing, then if everything is in order they will enter the death onto the register and issue you with a death certificate (you will need to take some money with you to purchase copies of the death certificate(s) - £12 each) They will also give you information about the 'Tell Me Once' system, which is a useful process that notifies various organisations in one go without having to contact them separately -there is no charge for that process. The Registrar will give you a unique reference number to use that system which is available for up to 28 days from registering the death.
Next the Registrar will send the 'green form' to your chosen crematorium or cemetery and you can ask for a copy of that form to be sent to your funeral director.
The next stage is to liaise with your funeral director to plan the funeral, and organise collection of the person who has died to be taken into their care, if this is what you want (there isnt any law to say you have to do this as some families choose to keep their loved one at home right up until the funeral).
Here at Amanda-Louise Funeral Services, our woman's understanding and care are here to support you every step of the way. Contact Amanda-Louise Funeral Director personally on 01643 800335 or 07879220046 or email office@amandalouisefuneralservices.co.uk
What To Do When Someone Dies At Home
If death was expected, a medical practitioner will need to certify the death. This can be the person’s registered GP, Doctor on duty or registered nurse for example. They will complete a verification of death form, and will send a copy of that document to the person's registered GP surgery. They will leave you with a copy of that document too. The process has now changed since Sept 2024 -the GP surgery contacts the Medical Examiners Dept and they exchange paperwork. Once the Medical Examiner is satisfied with that information, they contact the next of kin and ask if they are satisfied with the cause of death (typically this takes 3-5 days from date of death). If you are satisfied, then the Medical Examiner will complete the Cause of Death documentation, and you are now able to register the death. If you are not satisfied with the cause of death, the Medical Examiner will consider your views.
After someone has died at home and it was expected, you can spend time with them, if you want to. You may want to play music and light a candle. There is no rush. Whenever you are ready, you can call us on 01643 800335 or mobile 07879-220046 and we will bring the person who has died into our care, once the death has been certified. Our staff are fully trained in order to handle this difficult event with care and respect. You are always welcome to visit our Chapel of Rest at a later date.
If the death was not expected, the person will be taken into hospital mortuary (see coroner involvement)
What to Do When a Death Occurs at a Hospital or Hospice
A medical practitioner (usually a doctor) will need to certify the death has taken place. This can be the person’s registered GP or the Doctor on duty. The verification of death form is sent to the GP surgery who in turn liaises with the Medical Examiner (their responsibility is to look at cause of death) and liaise with the next of kin
Once the Doctor has been to see the person, you will liaise with the bereavement team who will offer practical and emotional support. The person who has died will often be cared for in the mortuary at the hospital or hospice until a funeral director is appointed or arrangements made. If you appoint us as your funeral director, we will be able to call the hospital or hospice and make the necessary arrangements to bring the person who has died into our care once the death has been certified.
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"Dedicated to giving you the funeral you deserve & want"
"With my vision on providing wrap-around-care from start to finish. Our team are here to help you with every aspect of planning and organising your funeral needs from the preparation of the body to events and memorial services, I will be with you every step of the way"
