Sarah Gibson
Main Page: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)Department Debates - View all Sarah Gibson's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
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Sarah Gibson (Chippenham) (LD)
My constituent’s sister was stillborn many years ago, in a situation in which my constituent’s mother was simply told, “Don’t worry, dear, you’ll have another one next year.” There was no bereavement counselling and, more importantly, no marked grave. My constituent found out some years later—quite recently—that his sister had been buried in a communal unmarked grave. It appears that, because this practice went on until the late 1980s, there are some 89,000 such children. These families have had the lifelong pain of not knowing where to grieve, how to grieve or where to focus their attention, with no chance of finding it.
These children deserve our support, and I hope that this House will share my view that the Government need to step in to provide a small memorial so that these families can have a focus for their grief, and some acknowledgment that these children existed. I would be grateful if the House shared this call, which I have tabled as an early-day motion. I know the Minister has kindly offered to meet these families, and I am extremely grateful for his support.