Northern Ireland parents who have lost a baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy are set to get a new form of formal recognition, with the Baby Loss Certificate Regulations due to come into operation on 15 June. The rules were made by the Department of Finance on 27 May under the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Act (Northern Ireland) 2026. It is the kind of measure that can look dry on the page and still matter deeply in real life. For families who have carried this grief without any official acknowledgement, the change gives the state a simple but important way of saying that the loss counts.

The regulations cover a baby loss during pregnancy that is not classed in law as a still-birth. In plain terms, the scheme is aimed at losses before the end of the 24th week of pregnancy, creating a route for parents to ask the Registrar General for a Baby Loss Certificate. That matters because many parents have been left in a gap between private grief and public record. The new framework does not take away that pain, but it does give families the option of recognition in a form that is official, lasting and personal.

The certificate itself can include details chosen by the applicant. That may include the baby’s name, the date of the loss, the date of delivery, the sex of the baby and the place where the loss happened, alongside the mother’s full name. A father or second female parent can also be named, but only where there is consent for that to happen. Every certificate must also carry a reference number and the date it was issued, giving the document clear formal status within the scheme.

The rules set out clearly who can apply. An application can be made by the mother, the father or a second female parent, and it must include the mother’s full name, a postal address and telephone number and, where relevant, consent from any other parent whose name is to appear on the certificate. Parents can also choose how much detail they want included. In a careful and humane touch, the regulations allow a single application to cover more than one baby loss, sparing some families from having to repeat the process more than once.

Just as important is what the public will not be able to do. The Registrar General must keep a record of certificates issued, but that record will not be open to public inspection, and no public search can be carried out. That privacy matters. It means the scheme is built around dignity rather than exposure, with formal recognition for parents without turning intensely personal loss into something that others can look through.

The regulations also create a route to correct or update a certificate. If an amendment is needed, the applicant can ask the Registrar General to make it, provided the request sets out the change sought and includes any necessary parental consent. Taken together, the rules do more than tidy up an administrative gap. They put into practice a Baby Loss Certificate scheme for parents in Northern Ireland who have lost a baby before 24 weeks, giving formal acknowledgement to an experience that has too often gone unrecognised in law.