Support group proponent encouraged by council decision

THE woman behind the proposal for a community-based support group for bereaved parents in the Moorabool Shire has welcomed news that the local council will look into ways it can help.

Bianca McCowat, of Maddingley, said she was encouraged by a Moorabool Shire council decision last week to investigate the feasibility of helping to establish a support group as a non-clinical, community-based peer group.

“I’m pleased to see that the council has recognised the need, and is going to seriously look into what provisions they can offer or support,” she said.

Miss McCowat, a social worker, has connections with the Ballarat-based Babies Above group, which operates a model that she wants to replicate in Moorabool.

She and her partner lost one twin at birth in 2022. A daughter was born in 2024.

Miss McCowat said that by listening to bereaved parents, a group would be able to identify further support needed such as specific support for fathers and helping parents who decide to have further children after a loss.

She said she also hoped to help hospitals and health services link into better training and support.

Miss McCowat is based in Melton and works with children and families, but not specifically in the area of pregnancy and loss.

She said she and her partner did not receive much continuing support after they left the hospital, partly because they had a living child they had to focus on.

But she stressed the hospital itself was great in that it allowed them to spend time with the baby that did not survive.

“There was no pressure for us to leave. We decided after a couple of days to go home and take our son home,” she said.

But Miss McCowat said they discovered there was no specific support for people like them when they entered the maternal and child health system.

“They had no specially trained nurses, midwives or social workers,” she said. “All they had was one dedicated family services officer who saw these stillbirth notices come through and felt compelled to reach out to the mothers.”

Miss McCowat said that person founded a support group, but it disbanded when she retired.

And with no official council system in place, mothers dealing with loss would now basically have nowhere to turn, she said.

Miss McCowat said she would help to facilitate a Moorabool group because she had lived experience, but a Babies Above representative would also be involved.

She said that taking a “top-down approach”, hospitals needed to be able to provide immediate support for families in the case of a stillbirth.

And the Shire providing a meeting room at no cost would be an easy buy-in.

“Let’s get some traction with these small community groups, and then once we have an idea of what parents actually need we can advocate for larger growth from the top down,” Miss McCowat said.

“We’re not asking for therapists and counsellors to come in and provide support, we’re looking to link parents in … with each other with the guidance of (the Shire’s) maternal and child health.”

Miss McCowat said a priority in terms of council support would be long-term free use of a meeting room or rooms.

“As a not-for-profit organisation Babies Above can’t afford the fees (to hire rooms), so we’re looking to get short-term free room hire and hoping the council can extend that room hire,” she said.

Miss McCowat said that once a group was up and running, she would think about ways of getting the Bacchus Marsh Hospital involved – and even the Joan Kirner facility in Sunshine, where she gave birth. Anyone wanting to be involved can reach out to Babies Above through its Facebook page or via email at [email protected]