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Sands - Saving babies' lives. Supporting bereaved families.
  • About Sands
    • Our work
      • Our Strategy 2022-25
      • Supporting families
      • Saving babies' lives
      • Trustees and governance
      • Our work in Scotland
      • Organisations we work with
    • Who we are
      • Our history
      • Staff
      • Trustees
      • Ambassadors
      • Work for us
      • Finances
    • Sign up for e-news
    • News and media
      • Latest updates
      • Media enquiries
    • Baby Deaths in the UK
      • Sands' parent surveys and reports
      • Sands and Tommy's Joint Policy Unit
      • National maternity reports
    • How your support makes a difference
      • Our impact
    • Support groups: update your contact preferences
    • Your contact preferences
    • GDPR Podcasts
  • Support for you
    • How we offer support
      • Helpline
      • Bereavement support book
      • Local support groups
      • Online community
      • Memory box and care box
      • Support for men
      • Support for siblings
      • Support for those bereaved longer ago
      • Support for Black and South Asian communities
      • Finding babies' graves or cremation records
    • Support for all types of baby loss
    • Returning to work after pregnancy and baby loss
    • Father's Day
    • Garden Day
    • Watch and listen
      • Voices of Baby Loss podcast
      • Lewis Capaldi - Pointless
      • Pieces Of A Woman
    • Remembering your baby
      • Lights of Love
      • Wave of Light
      • Tree of Love
      • Your stories
    • Understanding why your baby died
      • Post-mortem
      • Reviews and investigations
      • FAQs for bereaved parents
      • Useful links and organisations
  • Get involved
    • Sands Awareness Week
    • Ribbon Run Manchester
    • Support Sands your way
    • Camp Out for Sands
    • Forever Tied in Love
    • Fundraise for us
      • Leap of Love
      • Snowdon by Night Hike
      • Trek Together
    • Take part in an event
    • Sands United FC
    • Support a Sands Group
    • Get Involved with Research
    • Campaigning for change
    • Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit
    • Corporate Partnerships
      • Support Sands through a Trust or Foundation
    • Volunteer with Sands
      • Befriend for Sands
      • MySands Portal
      • Hospital Liaison Volunteers
      • Knit for Sands
    • Baby Loss Awareness Week
    • The Elaine Thorp Award for Bereavement Care
    • Read our Fundraising Promise
    • Ways to support us
      • Set up a regular gift
      • Leave a gift in your will
      • Sands Raffle
      • Sands Lottery
      • Give in Memory
      • Give in celebration
      • Gift Aid - Boost your gift
      • Create an Always Loved Tribute
      • Other ways to give
  • Professionals
    • Training and Education
    • Research
    • Bereavement in the Workplace
    • Bereavement Care
    • Consultancy Services
    • Professionals e-bulletin
    • Baby deaths in the UK
      • Maternity Consortium
      • Statistics on baby deaths
    • Saving Babies' Lives
      • Resources and training
      • Involving parents in review
      • Sands post mortem consent package
      • Safer Pregnancy website
    • National Bereavement Care Pathway
      • Evaluation of the NBCP: Final report (Wave two)
      • NBCP Scotland
    • Audits of bereavement care
    • Order memory boxes
    • Organisations we work with

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Black pregnant mother having an ultrasound scan

About Sands

Sands is the UK’s leading pregnancy and baby loss charity. We are here to support everyone touched by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby. Always.

We’re creating a community of compassionate and lifesaving changemakers, whose voices inspire change and turn understanding into action.

Every day in the UK, 13 babies die shortly before, during or soon after birth. At least 1 in 6 of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Thousands of parents and families are experiencing the heartbreak of pregnancy and baby loss every year in the UK.

Too often, the reasons for pregnancy and baby losses are not fully understood, and this lack of understanding makes it harder to prevent future tragedies. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

For more than 40 years, Sands has provided a safe, understanding and caring community for anyone touched by pregnancy or baby loss. We can help, whether your loss happened recently or long ago.

Sands offers many types of support, including our free, confidential telephone helpline, email support, and online group sessions. We have a UK-wide network of local groups offering peer-support in the community, social media groups helping people connect wherever they are, and free resources for partners, siblings, grandparents, and wider family and friends.

Sands works to give healthcare professionals, trusts and health boards with the training, tools and support they need to provide excellent bereavement care, to ensure that every bereaved parent and family receives the best possible care wherever they are in the UK.

Our accredited training is also available for a wider range of professionals, like those working in the community, such as police officers and teachers, whilst our Bereavement in the Workplace training means all managers and colleagues can feel confident to sensitively support a co-worker who has experienced pregnancy or baby loss.

Sands helps answer the most important research questions and acts on these findings. Listening to parents helps save lives and Sands puts bereaved parents' experiences at the heart of research. These experiences help academics and clinicians understand why babies die and how maternity care can be improved.

And, Sands works to keep pregnancy and baby loss at the top of the political agenda across the UK. Through campaigns, we amplify the voices of bereaved parents. By gaining the support and understanding of politicians, ministers and decision-makers, we can help them make better policies to improve maternity services and save babies’ lives.

In this section

  • Our work
  • Who we are
  • Sign up for e-news
  • News and media
  • Baby Deaths in the UK
  • How your support makes a difference
  • Support groups: update your contact preferences
  • Your contact preferences
  • GDPR Podcasts

Latest updates from Sands

White text on purple background reads Governments across the UK must act now so all bereaved parents across the UK can access the mental health care they need

Postcode lottery in NHS mental health care leaves bereaved parents without vital support.

Only 1 in 6 bereaved parents across the UK who need NHS mental health support are able to access this.

Posted 10 July 2025
10-year Health Plan for England is announced

Sands responds to the 10 Year Health Plan for England

Yesterday, the Government announced the 10 Year Health Pan for England. This is a big moment – and one we’ve...

Posted 4 July 2025
Sands campaigners secure a win. Graphic of group of parents celebrating

Breaking news: win for Sands campaigners

Today, 23 June 2025, we welcomed an announcement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting...

Posted 23 June 2025

Read all news

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© 2025 Sands - Saving babies' lives. Supporting bereaved families.
Charity registration number 299679. Company Limited by Guarantee Number 2212082  •  Scottish Charity Registration Number SC042789 • We also operate in Northern Ireland
Registered address: Sands, 10-18 Union Street, London, SE1 1SZ

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