A charity that supports parents following a miscarriage or stillbirth has applauded the Government for passing legislation giving them three days of bereavement leave but says more needs to be done in terms of providing support following a loss.
Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen’s Member’s Bill, The Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill (No 2), provides for three days bereavement leave following the end of a pregnancy as a result of miscarriage or stillbirth.
The new legislation was announced yesterday.
Charity, Sands, is a network of parent-run, non-profit groups supporting families who have experienced the death of a baby. It is solely volunteer based and has no support from the Government.
Dr Vicki Culling is a perinatal & infant loss educator and has been actively involved in Sands for over 10 years. She told 1 NEWS while yesterday’s announcement was welcomed by the charity more still needs to be done.
She says about 5,900 to 11,800 miscarriages or stillbirths occur each year and more than 95 per cent of the miscarriages occur in the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy, according to data from the New Zealand College of Midwives.
She is calling for a national bereavement pathway, saying support services for parents who have lost a baby are unacceptable.
“Our care for any baby loss throughout the country is sporadic and arbitrary ,” she says.
“When most women have a miscarriage, their medical care is very different.”
She says there are parts of the country where some women will be able to access good support but in other parts, there is little help for bereaved parents.
“If you are in Invercargill there is a grief centre but no specialised baby loss support down there,” she explains.
The Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (PMMRC) recommended in its 2019 and 2020 reports there should be a bereavement care pathway, however Culling says the Ministry of Health has not actioned the recommendations.
“They make these recommendations but they have no teeth,” she says.
The Ministry has not responded to 1 NEWS' request for comment.
Culling, whose first daughter was stillborn at 10 days overdue, says “no matter where you live in the country there should be trained staff to care for those who have suffered loss after miscarriage or stillbirth”.
Culling says the United Kingdon has set up a national bereavement care pathway and hopes New Zealand will do the same.
“That’s who we are modelling it upon. They even have a parliamentary group on baby loss,” she says.
“Often a lot of people end up joining Sands because they are grateful for the care they’ve had, or they’ve had shit care,” Culling says, citing an example of where the charity referred a mother to her GP after a full-term stillbirth and the “GP referred her back to Sands”.
“Even if the bare minimum we get is basic bereavement care standards throughout the country... even if we just got something,” Culling says.
No data for babies who die prior to 20 weeks.
While the PMMRC collects figures for a baby death after 20 weeks gestation, there is no data collected for babies who die earlier.
“No one counts babies who die under 20 weeks,” Culling says.
According to the New Zealand College of Midwives, most miscarriages (more than 95 per cent) occur in the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy (1st trimester).
And while miscarriage affects approximately one in every four women, the lack of data-tracking means trends and statistics cannot be gathered.
Melanie Tarrant is the chairperson for Sands and has suffered three miscarriages – at six, eight and 19 weeks and five days and then also lost a son through stillbirth.
She says “for those babies to have not been recorded is heart-breaking for a mum”.
“It doesn’t matter when your loss occurs, it’s still a loss. All those future hopes, dreams and plans, they are all gone.”
“They are seen to not count.”
Tarrant says it’s important that “those losses are recognised”.
She sees yesterday’s announcement for bereavement leave as a “first step in a really huge journey that needs to happen for parents".
She says Sands advocates have had “lots of feedback from bereaved parents saying how fantastic it is,” but agrees a national bereavement pathway is a logical next step because at present, New Zealanders face a “postcode lottery of bereaved care”.
“We receive referrals from GPs, midwives, courts and the police and have somehow been able to run everything on the smell of an oily rag,” she told 1 NEWS.
“I wish they would fund us because you need to value the work we do,” Tarrant says.
Parents are also eligible for paid parental leave after miscarriage or stillbirth
Whetūrangitia is a Government run service which has pooled together information from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), Ministry of Justice, Inland Revenue and Sands.
Tarrant says it’s a resource parents who have experienced miscarriage or stillbirth aren’t always aware of. Still relatively new, it was launched at the Sands Conference in 2019.
Alongside the new entitlement for bereavement leave, parents are also entitled to paid parental leave (PPL) if they meet the requirements.
PPL is for one continuous period of up to 26 weeks however Culling says in the case of a miscarriage or stillbirth, only the mother is eligible to access it, depending on her employment conditions.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) says fathers may be able to access other leave entitlements.
“This is because the Act allows a birth mother to take time away from work to physically recover from childbirth as well as psychologically recover.
“Other people affected by the death of a child, stillbirth or miscarriage may be able to request other leave entitlements,” the spokesperson says.
Leave cannot be transferred from the mother to the father either.
“It cannot be transferred after the death of the child. If it has been transferred prior to the child’s death, then it ends on the date of the child’s death,” the MBIE spokesperson says.
Culling believes the legislation is discriminatory towards fathers, who also experience grief after the loss of a baby.
“While the legislation was set up with good intent, it hasn’t taken into account the plight of the father when a baby dies,” Culling says.
Tarrant doesn’t believe most parents who suffer the death of a baby are aware of PPL for parents.
“I don’t think it’s common knowledge,” Tarrant says.
“It’s probably one of the most common questions parents ask and they are usually surprised to find out they are eligible.
“If you don’t know about it and you go back to work you are not entitled to it.
“You have to not have gone back to work to access it,” she says.
“We need to get that information out into the hands of Lead Maternity Carers and GPs,” Tarrant says.
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