Sands welcomes the Federal Government’s response to the senate stillbirth inquiry’s report, published this week.

We commend the Government’s priorities to reduce the rate of stillbirth in Australia and provide the best possible support services for families experiencing stillbirth.

The provision of $52.4 million to support families experiencing grief following the death of a child recognises the profound impact that perinatal loss has on families and addresses this by enabling the development of new support, research, education and awareness programs.

Sands particularly looks forward to further developing our pilot Hospital to Home program, an intensive support service that will commence while bereaved mothers are in hospital and continue when the family returns home.

Hospital to Home will provide a trained support person to provide tailored assistance to each bereaved family following stillbirth, with the aim of helping them adjust to life without their baby and navigating the often-bewildering range of medical and administrative tasks required when a baby has died.

On behalf of past, present and future bereaved families, we thank Minister Greg Hunt and the Morrison Government for making the support of bereaved parents a key component of the Australian Government’s approach to tackling stillbirth.