Closing the Blank Space for bereaved mothers

June 2025

On Tuesday 17 June, Parliament will hear a proposed change led by MP Jen Craft to an outdated law that caused immense pain to bereaved mother Orlanda Bryars – and many others like her.

When Orlanda’s partner, Julian, died suddenly of a heart attack while they were on holiday in 2019, she was five months pregnant with their daughter, Cassia.

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The couple had been together for two years and has been close friends for a decade before that. But just a day after discovering they were expecting a baby girl, Julian collapsed in the middle of the night. He was 47.

The grief was overwhelming – but the legal obstacles that followed made it even worse.

Because they weren’t married, Orlanda discovered she couldn’t register Julian’s name on Cassia’s birth certificate without going through the family court system. In the middle of new motherhood and unimaginable loss, she faced a complex legal process simply to have her partner recognised as her child’s father.

Orland said:

“It is not fair or right but, as the law currently stands in the UK, when you want to register the birth of your baby, the registrar is not allowed to add your late partner’s name to your child’s birth certificate, if you were not married when they died. Instead, there is a large blank space where the name should be...” 

The #BlankSpace campaign – led by WAY Widowed and Young – is backing a Ten-Minute Rule Bill proposed by Labour MP Jen Craft that would change the law and offer a simpler, more compassionate route for bereaved mothers in Orlanda’s position.

It’s a long-overdue step to reflect the realities of modern families and ensure that no grieving mother is forced to fight to prove her partner’s fatherhood.

MP Jen Craft said: “A system that punishes families for choosing not to marry has no place in the 21st century. Grieving mothers are forced to undergo a demeaning, traumatic and costly legal battle because current legislation is out of touch and unfit for purpose. By implementing a simple change in the law, this bill will create a clear and easy process to ensure that bereaved mothers and their children are not deprived the basic right of having both parents registered on their birth certificate.” 

WAY’s Chief Executive Stephanie Patrick added: “It’s absolutely absurd in this day and age that bereaved mums like Orlanda are having to spend hundreds of pounds in a costly legal process to prove their child’s paternity just because they weren’t married to the father of their child. Bereaved mothers deserve a process that respects their loss, acknowledges their partner, and protects their child’s identity and legal rights.”