Placenta Donation
Many families who choose not to consume their placentas will opt to donate their placentas. Placental tissue can be used to train search & rescue dogs in tracking down missing people and finding human remains. Your donation is a gift to help families find their lost loved ones.
Fill out the form below to provide some information about your delivery plans, and we’ll be in touch to coordinate your donation.
Thank You
The Inspiration
Thank you so much for considering something truly meaningful — donating your placenta to Search & Rescue.
This beautiful, life-giving organ supported your baby through every moment of their prenatal life. Now, it has the power to support others in an entirely different — yet equally powerful — way: by helping train Search and Rescue (SAR) dogs that work to bring missing loved ones home & provide closure to heartbroken families.
If you’re feeling unsure — we get it. It’s not every day someone asks you to gift them your placenta. It might even feel a little strange. But here’s the truth: this kind of donation saves lives. And not just in theory — in very real, tangible ways.
This mission was born from personal tragedy. In 2017, Camilla Rae, the founder of this program and a longtime birth worker, lost her dear childhood friend, Carlin Brightwell, & Carlin’s partner, Ryan Marcil, in a devastating hiking accident in Colorado. From the reports, it is suspected that they fell and were victims of a rockslide, leaving them stranded — injured, isolated, and completely cut off from communication. Not only couldn’t they call for help, but rescuers couldn’t reach them on foot due to the dangerous terrain created by the rockslide.
Dogs are uniquely able to navigate rugged, unstable, or impassible ground — and that ability can make the difference between life & death.
In the painful aftermath of this loss, Camilla immersed herself in understanding how SAR works — and learned that one of the biggest obstacles to training dogs effectively is access to human remains.
As a doula, she saw something others didn’t: every day, thousands of placentas — safe, appropriate, human tissue — are discarded as biohazard waste. What if, instead of being thrown away, they were used to help SAR dogs train for these exact scenarios?
That’s where you come in.
By choosing to donate your placenta, you’re giving SAR trainers the critical tools they need to prepare dogs for real-world search efforts. More donations mean more varied scent profiles, more realistic training, and better-prepared dogs. These dogs can go where people can’t — and sometimes, they’re the only ones who can.
Your placenta sustained one precious life. Now, it can help save countless others.
We know this decision is deeply personal. But if your heart feels pulled toward this — even a little — please trust that feeling. This act of love and generosity could give another family the closure, hope, or miracle they’re desperately waiting for.
With heartfelt gratitude