‘You don’t forget as a mother’: the British parents

Thousands of parents never got to say goodbye to their lost children. We hear from four of them

What happens when a baby is stillborn in England and Wales?

As late as the 1990s, healthcare professionals assumed that if a parent saw their stillborn baby or established any kind of connection with them this would only deepen their grief.

As a result, thousands of babies were abruptly taken from their parents, denying them the chance to say goodbye. Many were buried in mass graves across the country – but parents were often told different or conflicting stories. Most did not know where their children were laid to rest.