https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2026-10-12b.114.0
Baby Loss Awareness Week
Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:56 pm on 12 October 2026.
[…] I recently met a family from Southall who had lost their newborn shortly after birth. Mum and dad did not have good English, so their 13-year-old daughter had to translate for them and explain that they were being asked to agree to turn off their new baby’s life support machine. This 13-year-old girl then ended up standing in front of a judge, arguing on behalf of her family. She showed me the heartbreaking letter the judge sent her, explaining the decision to end life support—a decision which she and her parents still cannot accept or even understand.
We rightly focus on the parents when a child dies, but brothers and sisters are too often overlooked when it comes to support after a family bereavement. My 13-year-old constituent found that some of the medical professionals struggled to communicate with her about what had happened to her newborn baby sister. She told me that she felt there was not enough help available for her, both as a child experiencing the loss of a sibling and as a child carrying all the burden of communicating with officialdom on behalf of her family. No 13-year-old child should have to go through what my constituent experienced, so I welcome the Government’s commitment to more compassionate and individualised care for every bereaved family, but I hope that the Secretary of State will work on the design of this, to ensure that there are measures in place to support families for whom English is a second or even third language, and support for siblings who act as the family translator. [...]
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