Parents who have experienced a stillbirth or the death of a child up to six years can be assured of a little comfort during this unbelievably difficult time after councillors overwhelmingly voted to waive all cemetery fees.
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The idea was put forward by Councillor Paul Sandilands and carried unanimously during this week's MidCoast Council monthly meeting in Taree.
Death at any age is difficult for families and friends to deal with, Cr Sandilands said.
"Many of us have experienced the loss of relatives or family, and often that occurs when you are financially prepared and you are stable in life to recover those (costs)," he said.
"When people have infants and small children they don't sit and save for a funeral, it is not something that ever enters their head, particularly with a stillborn baby or the loss of an infant early in life.
"They're focusing on spending things for that baby; they're buying prams, they're buying clothes.
"They're not thinking about the loss of their child."
Cr Sandilands said this decision by council will lessen the financial impact and hardship on families
"We have a word for people who lose their partners, widow or widower, we have a word for children who lose their parents, they are orphans, but the English language doesn't have a word that defines a parent that loses a child.
"The say it takes a village to raise a child, and we are the village, and looking after people who are part of the village is also part of our role."
The price of preparing what is necessary is not something you would wish upon anyone, Katheryn Stinson said.
When people have infants and small children they don't sit and save for a funeral, it is not something that ever enters their head, particularly with a stillborn baby or the loss of an infant early in life.
- Paul Sandilands
"You don't want anyone to go through the heartache of having a stillborn, or losing a child up to any age," Cr Stinson said.
Post natal depression is a killer, Cr David West said.
"And to think of the effect of a stillborn child to a first mother and taking it from that point into a little white coffin going into an oven to be cremated or put in to the ground I don't know how anyone suffering from post natal depression could deal with that let along the loss of a child," Cr West said.
This will relieve some of that trauma moving forward, he said.
Jeanene Duncan
Jeanene has more than 40 years experience as a regional and rural journalist starting at The Land Newspaper. She also worked for Stock Journal Newspaper (SA), McPherson, Fairfax newspapers and Rural Press, and contributed to various magazines.
Jeanene has more than 40 years experience as a regional and rural journalist starting at The Land Newspaper. She also worked for Stock Journal Newspaper (SA), McPherson, Fairfax newspapers and Rural Press, and contributed to various magazines.
