Special family member
- Simone Maas
- 17 mrt 2016
- 3 minuten om te lezen
When you introduce yourself to other people, you will most likely also mention your family members. For example, I live with my parents and have two siblings. But what if one of those so called ‘siblings’ was born dead? Is it a strange thing to still feel like this dead brother is just as much part of the family as your alive sister? I don’t think it is and neither does Natasja. That’s why she collected signatures and went with her law proposal to the House of Representatives. According to her, dead born children should also be registered as being a family member.
What is it?
Natasja Geyteman-Bos is a proud mother of Isa and Noah, but in 2007 she also gave birth to Julie. Julie was born dead which was a big loss to her and her husband. When son Noah was born a few years later, Natasja went to the city hall to register his birth. There she found out only Julie’s data of death was noted, which meant that by the paper work she never really existed. This came as a shock. She decided to take action and to fight for all of those people that have experienced the same situation. Still-born children should also be recognised as human beings who have actually existed, because they have and always will for their relatives!
As for now it seems that the majority of parties agree with Natasja’s intiative. Also, when this law proposal is actually brought into practice it will not be that expensive. In fact, the right paperwork is already there, but will then be used for not only the (relatively) healthy born babies.
Why is it cool?
In 2014 817 babies were born dead in the Netherlands. That means that 817 families had to deal with this loss. Still-born children have always been a thing, the way we are dealing with it has just changed. Less than 100 years ago the church was still the one deciding over how to handle this situation. Once a child was born dead, the hospital staff members covered it with a sheet and it was taken away from the parents. Its father and mother often did not even get a chance to see their child. It got transported to a cemetery by a car together with another human body. It was a waste of money and time to let a car drive just for one small baby body. When the baby was taken to the cemetery it usually ended up in a mass-grave for children who were still-born and unbaptized. As a result, a parent did not know where exactly to go to to mourn. It was better to forget about it and move on.
Nowadays the church has no saying in how we handle this situation. Hospital-staff are more prepared to guide parents and parents can organize a special farewell. The still-born child often even gets its own Christmas presents, just to not forget about it. Isn’t it strange that after all this years still-born children are still not being seen as a legit member of a family. I think it is great that Natasja is standing up for this matter.
In an open world of information, we have to recognize the negative as well as the positive things. Giving birth to a dead child may be a sad moment in a mom’s life, but that doesn’t mean that the child shouldn’t be registered. With this law proposal Natasja is showing the world an important message. We want these special family members to be acknowledged, so we may never forget about them!
What sources did I use?
Always wonder,
Simone
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