Program

The goal of our program is to create a free, public-facing, and searchable database compiling the details of public/indigent disposition programs for the (at minimum) two largest counties in all 50 states in the U.S. This will include public, government-run programs, and possibly non-profit, or charitable organizations, or a hybrid option, for locations that have no strictly public program available.

Our aim is to make the information presented in this database accessible. Since most are not aware of what happens to people when they can’t access paid funeral services, or that this issue even exists, a key benefit of this project will be to raise awareness about the plight of those facing disposition inequities across the U.S.

Finally, we intend to conduct some education around the terms “indigent” and “abandoned” that are often used as technical terms for these programs, and to suggest more accurate, descriptive, and less marginalizing language that can be adopted as awareness grows about these issues.

To do this, we need your help! If you’re interested in working with us and/or providing information about your county/state’s indigent disposition program, please fill out our volunteer form and we’ll be in touch!

Key Terms:

• Disposition: Disposition is a deathcare industry term denoting the various forms of final “disposal” options for dead bodies, including, but not limited to burial and cremation.
• Equitable: The EDA chooses to use the term “equitable” rather than “equal”’ to reflect the disparities in access and the necessity of providing resources commensurate with need
• Indigent: The etymology of the word “indigent” derives from the Latin “indigere,” meaning lacking. It has come to denote “suffering from extreme poverty,” and is the technical term most often used by public agencies across the US when referring to their programs for providing disposition when no private funeral arrangements have been made.