Bereavement Leave A recent social media discussion has got me thinking about the difficulty in returning to work following the loss of your child. For some it be can an unbearable experience that literally pushes many over the edge. I was one of the lucky ones, I for many years have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with both my bosses and my direct reports in the same employment. Bereavement leave, especially time taken for the death of your child is, I guess, not something that enters your mindset through everyday life. That said, it never entered my head that within reason, I would not get given whatever fully-paid time I required to ensure that I was in the best possible place before contemplating returning to work. Some people and way more than I realised until participating in that recent twitter discussion do not have the luxury of understanding bosses and colleagues that I had when I returned to work 2 and half weeks later following the passing of our da
Last week, in the House of Commons, MP Sharon Hodgson broke down as she revealed her agony of being told her stillborn daughter, Lucy, who was born 20 years ago at 23 weeks + 5 days did not ‘officially exist’. That is because under UK law, parents are not given a birth or death certificate if the child is not born alive before 24 weeks’ gestation. Although the passing of her daughter was not as far as I’m aware related to a Group B Strep infection, listening to her plea hit home with us and got us thinking about what she is asking for. Her little girls heart had beat through most of her labour and she held her babies motionless body in her arms in hospital. It surely cannot be questioned that indelible memory is fact that her daughter indeed existed . MP Sharon Hodgson, 02/02/18 Our daughter, Mia was born alive at 25+5 weeks (2 weeks older than Lucy) and lived for 22 minutes, therefore she ticked all the boxes to be classed as having ‘officially existed’