New Public Information Website Educates Oregon Families & Professionals
About Families’ Rights When Death Occurs
Oregon Funeral Resources & Education
Making Oregon Home Funeral Information Easy to Find
Release date: September 25, 2019
Early in 2018, 4 ½ year Max Carver drowned on his family’s ranch in Maupin. Authorities who were ignorant of Oregon law thwarted the release of his body to his parents after the investigation was complete. At the time she most needed it, there was no easy place Max’s mom Keelia could find information on her family’s right to take custody of Max and bury him at home on their ranch. Nothing to hand the misinformed authorities who insisted otherwise. Now there is: Oregon Funeral Resources & Education, a non-commercial public interest site dedicated to helping Oregon consumers care for their own dead with or without the assistance of a funeral director. The site is being lauded by medical and funeral industry professionals as a much-needed resource for both families and professionals.
Did you know? In Oregon, no one is required to purchase the services of a funeral director or funeral home. Families may conduct any or all tasks commonly performed by a funeral home (except embalming which isn’t legally required), and may bury on their property if certain provisions are met.
Oregon Funeral Resources & Education, a new, non-commercial, public interest website is dedicated to providing Oregonians with information about their legal rights and resources when death occurs, with or without the assistance of a funeral director. In addition to detailing death care law in Oregon, OregonFuneral.org walks readers through the practical “How Tos” of whichever aspects of after-death care they want to handle (including home funerals, home burial, and green burial) and provides guidance in how consumers can get what they want from professionals they hire or authorities they encounter when a death occurs. Because so many helping professionals are unfamiliar with family- and community-directed care for the dead, the site includes concise but detailed, professionally-specific in-service training materials along with resources for use in community education.
Marking the one-year anniversary of Max’s death, his mother Keelia Carver returned to meet with the authorities who confirmed that despite their professional expertise, they were not aware of families’ legal rights to care for their dead under Oregon law. “My dedication to the creation of this website is so that professionals like these, along with families like ours, have access to accurate and practical information,” Carver says. She writes on the site: “I hope that you get the chance that I was denied, to lay with your dearly departed’s body in the privacy of your own home keening until your voice is gone. Spending those last hours with that body that you hugged and kissed, talked to and laughed with.”
SEE Media Page for full News Release, Public Service Announcement, “What People Are Saying”. Download: Information for Professionals, Printable Informational Flyer, Home Funeral Facts Card.
About Families’ Rights When Death Occurs
Oregon Funeral Resources & Education
Making Oregon Home Funeral Information Easy to Find
Release date: September 25, 2019
Early in 2018, 4 ½ year Max Carver drowned on his family’s ranch in Maupin. Authorities who were ignorant of Oregon law thwarted the release of his body to his parents after the investigation was complete. At the time she most needed it, there was no easy place Max’s mom Keelia could find information on her family’s right to take custody of Max and bury him at home on their ranch. Nothing to hand the misinformed authorities who insisted otherwise. Now there is: Oregon Funeral Resources & Education, a non-commercial public interest site dedicated to helping Oregon consumers care for their own dead with or without the assistance of a funeral director. The site is being lauded by medical and funeral industry professionals as a much-needed resource for both families and professionals.
Did you know? In Oregon, no one is required to purchase the services of a funeral director or funeral home. Families may conduct any or all tasks commonly performed by a funeral home (except embalming which isn’t legally required), and may bury on their property if certain provisions are met.
Oregon Funeral Resources & Education, a new, non-commercial, public interest website is dedicated to providing Oregonians with information about their legal rights and resources when death occurs, with or without the assistance of a funeral director. In addition to detailing death care law in Oregon, OregonFuneral.org walks readers through the practical “How Tos” of whichever aspects of after-death care they want to handle (including home funerals, home burial, and green burial) and provides guidance in how consumers can get what they want from professionals they hire or authorities they encounter when a death occurs. Because so many helping professionals are unfamiliar with family- and community-directed care for the dead, the site includes concise but detailed, professionally-specific in-service training materials along with resources for use in community education.
Marking the one-year anniversary of Max’s death, his mother Keelia Carver returned to meet with the authorities who confirmed that despite their professional expertise, they were not aware of families’ legal rights to care for their dead under Oregon law. “My dedication to the creation of this website is so that professionals like these, along with families like ours, have access to accurate and practical information,” Carver says. She writes on the site: “I hope that you get the chance that I was denied, to lay with your dearly departed’s body in the privacy of your own home keening until your voice is gone. Spending those last hours with that body that you hugged and kissed, talked to and laughed with.”
SEE Media Page for full News Release, Public Service Announcement, “What People Are Saying”. Download: Information for Professionals, Printable Informational Flyer, Home Funeral Facts Card.
