Bereaved parents support group needed: Freeman

MOORABOOL councillor Sheila Freeman wants the Shire to consider establishing a support group for parents who experience the death of a child.

Cr Freeman tabled a notice of motion at Wednesday’s council meeting seeking that a report be prepared on the feasibility of a group to be delivered as a non-clinical, community-based peer support program.

She said the move was prompted by an approach to herself and other female councillors by a Bacchus Marsh mother, who is a parent advocate and social worker and who has herself experienced perinatal loss.

Cr Freeman said she decided to push the idea because she had once almost lost a child herself and had actually lost a sister as a child.

She said the resident’s proposal recommends the establishment of a support group overseen by the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health program and delivered in partnership with a specialist not-for-profit organisation.

“The proposal emphasises trauma-informed practice, lived-experience facilitation and the use of existing infrastructure to minimise costs,” Cr Freeman’s motion said.

Her motion did not commit the council to funding a group or to providing facilities for one, and stressed that any future decision would be subject to consideration of the report.

But she wanted the report to consider external funding opportunities for services a support group could offer such as bereavement information and support packs for parents, and age-appropriate books and resources for siblings after the loss of a baby.

It would also probe community-based engagement activities and peer support initiatives for bereaved fathers including group programs or events.

“Perinatal loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death, affects a significant number of families each year,” Cr Freeman’s motion said.

“National data indicates that the rate of stillbirth in Australia has not decreased over the past two decades.

“Parents experiencing perinatal loss face an elevated risk of trauma, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.”

The motion said access to non-clinical community-based bereavement support is limited in the shire and families often face long waiting times or large out-of-pocket costs for services outside the public health system.

Cr Freeman said she knew a peer-based bereavement support group had operated informally in the shire in the past, using council facilities through the maternal and child health program.

“This group provided connection, validation and support for bereaved parents but ceased following staff changes and the absence of formal program resourcing,” she said.

“While hospital-based clinical care is available at the time of loss, evidence indicates a gap in ongoing, non-clinical and community-based support, particularly in peri-regional municipalities such as Moorabool Shire.”