Petition urges Government to provide leave for fathers after stillbirth of a child

A petition calling on the government to extend parental leave to fathers following the stillbirth of a child has gained 169 signatures, as of the March 25.

The petition was created by Rulandi de Villiers on February 24 to allow parental leave for fathers after the loss of a stillborn child.

As of today, the petition has 158 days remaining until its closing date on August 25, 2026.

Following a personal experience within the de Villiers family, Rulandi says she believes “fathers should receive equal financial assistance, so that they too can grieve and recover from the loss of a child who was stillborn.”

Rulandi says her sister and brother-in-law faced challenges navigating their grief and financial worries after the loss of their child.

“After my sister experienced a stillbirth, both her and her partner were understandably not in a position to sort finances.”

Due to health issues, her sister did not meet the requirements for paid maternity leave.

Rulandi then began to look for any available financial assistance that her sister’s partner could qualify for, allowing her sister to recover from the birth physically and giving the couple time to process what happened.

She says, “I made calls to Citizens Advice Bureau, IRD, and Work and Income, as my sister's partner's employer was expecting him back at work on Monday, less than a week since the stillbirth and funeral.

“All agencies told me that he does not qualify for paid parental leave as the birth was ‘not a live birth’ and that he would need to speak to his employer to make a private arrangement of leave, which he felt he could not do.”

Her sister, Ruche de Villiers, says she felt she must rush her own grief due to financial pressures.

"After losing our baby, I felt like I didn’t have the time or space to properly grieve, because my partner had to return to work so quickly."

As she watched the financial pressure fall on her partner, she felt like she couldn’t support him the way she wanted to, as she wasn’t in the right mental state.

“We were both grieving, but in very different ways,” she says.

This pressure caused their grief to become separate, affecting each of them emotionally.

Almost immediately after the still birth her partner was expected back at work, without the ability to process what had happened.

The petition does not require a minimum number of signatures, but it must show enough support to be presented in Parliament.

The petition is open for signatures on the Parliament website and has not yet been presented to the House or had any parliamentary consideration.

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