ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the provision of baby gardens from the perspective of those who are tasked with providing and managing these spaces. It examines what actually takes place in these spaces and how the activity is interpreted by cemetery staff. The chapter shows how baby gardens reveal a changing attitude towards the treatment of, and grieving for, nearly viable foetuses (NVFs), babies, infants and young children, which in itself is indicative of wider shifting approaches to the expression of grief in public. It intends to address the gap in the literature, drawing on research conducted with staff tasked with managing the spaces in which interment and memorialization takes place in the United Kingdom. The personal sense of unease that many of the participants indicated when talking about removing artefacts from baby gardens suggests that this is far from a straightforward process for those tasked with the job.
