00:00Who got you that?
00:05A generous and empathetic boy taken too soon.
00:10This is how Bronwyn Helgeson describes her five-year-old son Mason.
00:14He died three years ago from an undetected twisted bowel.
00:18The last thing as a parent you expect is your child to pass away.
00:22You know, no parent should outlive their child.
00:26And at that time as well, we had a 10-week-old baby.
00:31The community rallied around Miss Helgeson and her family
00:34to help cover funeral costs.
00:36There's costs of thinking like the venue, flowers, memorial cards
00:42and just those little things that, you know,
00:44not everyone is going to have that cost on hand,
00:47especially when a death is, you know, unexpected
00:50and especially that of a child.
00:52To ease that burden for other families,
00:54a council in South Australia's Riverland
00:56has decided to waive grave digging fees for children under 10.
01:00I'm not aware of other councils
01:02actually making these concessions for families.
01:06Grief Australia is encouraging more support.
01:09Australia is kind of well behind the game
01:12when we look at what's being done in other countries.
01:14I know in both the UK and Scotland and Europe
01:17there have been funds that have been established
01:19that cover the entire costs for families for the burial of a child.
01:23It costs around $6,000 for a child's funeral.
01:27Some families are eligible for means-tested federal funding.
01:31But Bronwyn Helgeson says making support more accessible
01:34would make a significant difference to grieving families.
01:38I think if there was that relief of knowing
01:40that there's not that financial burden
01:42of having to pay for even just a basic funeral or burial cost,
01:47you know, I think that will definitely help.
01:50Offering relief for families dealing with heartbreaking grief.
Comments