Mum ordered to REMOVE decorations from baby’s grave for THIS bizarre reason
Just heartbreaking
A mum of seven is heartbroken after she was ordered to remove decorations from her son's grave because they were not “solemn enough”.
Baby Trent died of SIDS last September and his mum, Amanda Farrawell from Kempsey, has been lovingly tending his grave, adding ornaments and solar lights so he wouldn’t be “afraid of the dark.”
"They were all shattered [by the death] and the littlest one, he was very young and doesn't understand, but the three-year-old Tyson does, and we drive past all the time and Tyson wants to go and see Bubba," Farrawell told 7NEWS.com.au.
However, Kempsey Shire Council have written to Amanda telling her she needs to clear her son’s grave site.
The Council says that personal items can only be placed on the grave beams where the headstone sits, and has notified more than 100 other families that they need to do the same.
Amanda has started an online petition to be allowed to keep her son’s resting place the way it is.
“Just up from Bubba there's a 15-year-old boy who was one of our friend's kids and he died and he had his teddy bears and his footy jersey there, and there's a 17-year-old girl who died because of epilepsy and she has lights as well ... if you drive past East Kempsey (Lawn Cemetery) of a night time, it's all lit up,” Amanda said.
She also says that she makes every effort to keep the grave site “nice and clean” and she and her children remove any rubbish that accumulates.
In a media statement, the council's corporate and commercial director Stephen Mitchell said: "Tributes or ornaments of any kind - including statues, icons, vases, lights and flags - are not permitted to be placed on the ground in lawn sections.”
Placing items outside of these designate zones is considering a “safety hazard” he added.
Amanda and the other families who have been notified now have until July 14 to remove the personal items, two days before what would have been Trent's first birthday.
“Chances are if I put stuff out for his first birthday it will get removed,” she said.
Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.
