Baby-loss certificates offered to more bereaved parents

More bereaved parents in England will now be able to apply for a certificate to formally recognise the loss of their baby.

The government has removed a cut-off date that had meant only those who had had a pregnancy loss or miscarriage since September 2018 were eligible.

Certificates are now available to anyone who lost their baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy (or 28 if the loss was before October 1992).

Applicants must be aged at least 16 and live in England. More than 50,000 of the certificates, which are optional and free to receive, have been issued so far.

BBC presenter Emma Barnett revealed in March she had applied for one, after an emotional interview with Zoe Clark-Coates, founder of baby-loss charity Mariposa Trust.

Barnett said: “Like millions of women before me, the baby lived within me and died within me.

“My body and mind were the keeper and witness.

“Many people will not need a piece of paper. But the moment I realised I would like to have one was when Zoe and I spoke about having something official for the family file.

“Our loss is part of our family story and now there can be a piece of official paperwork to document it.”

TV presenter and politician Baroness Floella Benjamin, who experienced three miscarriages, said she was “so delighted” by the removal of the cut-off date for the certificates.

“We and the millions of other bereaved parents have been waiting to be recognised to understand the grief we have gone through,” she told the BBC, adding that her first miscarriage was 40 years ago.

“I still feel it,” she said. “Not everyone will want it but to some people it will be something to treasure…I will be celebrating when I get my certificate of loss.”

If a baby is born dead after 24 weeks, the death is officially registered as a stillbirth.

There are no official records of deaths before that stage.

But every year, in the UK, an estimated 250,000 pregnancies end through miscarriage – a death before 24 weeks – making it the most common complication of pregnancy, experienced by about one in five women.

And one of the recommendations of a recent independent review of NHS care and support for parents losing babies before 24 weeks was to offer a baby-loss certificate from the government, whether their loss was recent or historical.

Miscarriage Association chief executive Vicki Robinson said: “We know from the people that we support how much the certification scheme has helped those who have experienced pregnancy loss, so this is great news that people whose losses were previously not acknowledged now can be.”