‘You don’t forget as a mother’: the British parents finally reunited with their stillborn babies | Bereavement
As late as the 1990s, healthcare professionals assumed that if a parent saw their stillborn baby or established any kind of connection with them this would only deepen their grief. As a result, thousands of babies were abruptly taken from their parents, denying them the chance to say goodbye. Many were buried in mass graves across the country – but parents were often told different or conflicting stories. Most did not know where their children were laid to rest. Charities such as Brief Lives Remembered, run by Paula Jackson, help bereaved parents find the graves of their stillborn children. Here are some of those parents who were reunited with their lost ones. Michelle and Richard Jones Michelle Jones, 62, delivered a stillborn son, Christopher, in February 1981. She had visited the GP shortly before concerned she could no longer feel him kicking. The GP at the time reassured her that he could detect a heartbeat. Later, after experiencing significant pains while out shopping and being violently sick, she went to hospital and was taken to …
