Oxfordshire mum who lost twins will now have formal recognition of both their existence
More than 100,000 baby loss certificates have now been issued
This week, more than 100,000 baby loss certificates have now been issued to parents who have lost a pregnancy, allowing them to formally recognise their loss.
The certificates offer a way of providing comfort and support to bereaved parents, who have gone through an unimaginable loss, as well as providing acknowledgement that their baby existed and mattered.
"It will be really nice to be able to have something for both of them"
Suzie Scofield lives near Henley and co-founded Oxfordshire based charity Footprints Baby Loss, which supports families who have experienced the death of a baby from a multiple pregnancy.
Ms Scofield lost both of her twins during pregnancy but was only given a birth and death certificate for one of her boys.
Suzie’s baby Rory died 21 weeks old and was born one day short of 24 weeks, whilst Daniel was born at 29 weeks old but only lived for 18 hours.
She said: “It was really difficult, and it was really strange.
“It made me question lots of things and it challenged my grief in some respects because finding out that it was twins and until obviously that very sad moment when Rory died in utero, they were twins, and it was a together thing.
“Through all the loss of both twins - to have certificates for one of them, but not for the other, just felt really strange.
“It felt really sad, and I felt really angry about it at times, and it definitely affected my grief.”
Ms Scofield added: “I had to labour with him Rory, I gave birth to him, and I held him in my arms. Then to not have him officially recognised as my baby just felt very harsh and it was quite traumatic.”
Suzie has applied for a baby loss certificate for Rory and is expecting it ‘any day now’.
She says, “I think it will be really emotional, but I think it'll be really meaningful, and it just feels like a very long time coming. It will be really nice to be able to have something for both of them.
“We've got our memory box that has all our things to do with both our twins and it’ll just be really nice to have things together for them”.
The government announced in October that ‘all parents who have experienced losing a pregnancy can apply for a certificate formally recognising their loss’.
From then, the baby loss certificate scheme was expanded to include anyone who’d lost a child before September 2018.
Health Minister Baroness Gillian Merron said: “Losing a pregnancy can be devastating, and it is important that bereaved parents have the option to formally recognise the existence of their babies.
“I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of countless women who have spoken up about their experiences, and to campaigners for their perseverance and great work promoting this service. From meeting with them, I know there is much to do to improve services on the ground.
“We will always listen to women and families as we reform our NHS and maternity services, to make sure everyone gets the care and compassion they deserve.”