'Why changing the law on pregnancy loss leave is a huge step towards healing'
Nothing can prepare you for the overwhelming tide of grief that is felt with the loss of a child.
Sadness doesn’t run on a schedule - it hits you in waves, in unexpected moments and punches you straight in the gut when you least expect it.
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A missing name on a Christmas card, Mother’s Day or even something as simple as a song that can bring a tear to your eye.
As a woman, who has experienced the heartache of early miscarriage, I know all too well the emptiness and silence that follows a loss.
I carried a weight nobody could see. Nobody knew, except my partner and close family and friends, the silent grief that still to this day continues to hang around my heart.
I’m not alone, sadly so many families experience the raw heartbreak that follows miscarriage.
But for the first time in law, parents who go through this traumatic loss, will soon have the right to bereavement leave, giving them the time and space to grieve.
Not only does it mark a historic step forward in workplace rights, it is also a bigger validation.
It is a moment that formally recognises the overwhelming sense of grief that comes with the heartache of loss. There in statute.
And it is a victory built on courage, collaboration, and the belief from Wakefield-based charity The Miscarriage Association that every loss deserves to be recognised.
This vital change will see both parents across the country receive a minimum of five days’ leave as part of the Employment Rights Bill.
The Miscarriage Association, through its Leave for Every Loss campaign, has worked tirelessly to ensure that parents who experience miscarriage are treated with compassion, understanding and fairness.
Vicki Robinson, Miscarriage Association chief executive, told the House of Commons this week that the law recognises “grief is real”.
And she highlighted the importance that partners are included -many of whom have been overlooked and excluded from support.
Their campaign, championed by Sarah Owen MP, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, and Myleene Klass MBE, shows the importance of creating change.
It’s a movement that started with a single story.
And is timely at the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week that it has created a milestone in this act of compassion and understanding.
This is more than just a law - it means heartbreak matters, that pain is seen, and parents don’t have to face it alone.
That recognition, finally, brings a measure of comfort in a loss that never truly goes away.
But by recognising validating that grief formally is a hopeful step towards healing.