little feet taking big steps ... to reduce stillbirth

The Stillbirth Foundation Australia is celebrating this week. Not only has the influential parent-run charity reached its 5 year milestone, it has signed the NSW Premier, the Hon. Kristina Keneally MP as its Patron and raised over $50,000 in one lunch. 

“I certainly believe that the Stillbirth Foundation Australia is truly coming of age,” said Founder and Director, Emma McLeod. “We marked our fifth birthday celebrations in a poignant and potent way, celebrating the fact that although so many children were stillborn, they were still born. Their births should be cause for commemoration, and what better way than with a birthday party? This event was crucial in raising much-needed funds to invest back into research, helping us find an answer to the riddle of stillbirth.

“In addition we welcomed a powerful advocate to our team, the Hon Kristina Keneally MP, who for the first time shared her private emotions about the loss of her daughter Caroline. We are honoured to have a woman of Ms Keneally’s profile openly sharing her grief and loss. Through her truthful and honest reflection she demonstrated how women’s lives across the country are remarkably altered, changing many of us irrevocably.”

Kristina Keneally spoke movingly at the Stillbirth Foundation Australia Little Feet Lunch about the complex and conflicting emotions felt at the death of her daughter. She talked about her anger, sadness, disbelief and love, and the incredible impact this had upon her sense of self and identity. However she also credited Caroline with helping her to focus on becoming more involved in social issues and “making the world a better place”. She acknowledged that her experience of giving birth to a stillborn child was both “the end of something, and the beginning of something else”.

In accepting the role of Patron of the Stillbirth Foundation Australia, Kristina Keneally will be working to support the charity’s awareness raising efforts. The Stillbirth Foundation Australia is particularly focusing upon raising funds to invest into much needed research into why so many stillborn baby deaths are still unexplained.